#but tragically gotham is not in europe

[sebeth]

All-Star Squadron #1 (Revised 12/30/23)

Warning, Spoilers Ahead…

“The World On Fire!” by Roy Thomas and Rich Buckler. Published in 1981. This must have been early in Jerry Ordway’s career as he’s listed as “Jeremiah Ordway” in the credits.

The opening caption states: “On the world we know as Earth-One, the planet’s mightiest heroes have banded together since 1960, as the far-famed Justice League of America. In 1940, in a parallel dimension we call Earth-Two, the precursors of those heroes became the legendary Justice Society of America, even as total war raged in Europe, Asia, and Africa, That was nearly two years ago.”

We open with a scene of Hawkman flying, noting it took him well over an hour to fly from Washington to Manhattan.

Hawkman debuted in 1940.

Hawkman enters the JSA meeting room only to be ambushed by Plastic Man? 

“Good Gravy!”  I love the old-school expressions of surprise.  Less realistic but more charming than cuss words.

Hawkman says he recognizes the “outfit – and that stretched out shape – from the newsreels several weeks back”.

Plastic Man debuted at Quality Comics in August 1941. Assuming Plastic Man kept a low profile after he debuted, its quite possible that Hawkman wouldn’t have heard of Plas until the fall of 1942. DC didn’t purchase Quality Comics until 1956 and later began integrating the characters into the DC Universe.

Plastic Man reveals that he’s here on the direct orders of President Franklin Roosevelt.  Plastic Man realizes that Wesley Dodds, the owner of the penthouse, must be a member of the Justice Society.  Hawkman tries to play it off but Plastic Man isn’t buying it.

Plastic Man is impressed that Dodds can afford “one of those new-fangled television sets”. 

Hawkman and Plastic Man listen to the radio and discover that the rest of the Justice Society have been captured by various villains:

1)      Solomon Grundy captured the Flash, Green Lantern, and “non-member” Wonder Woman in Los Angeles.

2)      Professor Zodiak captured Batman, Robin, and Superman in Gotham City.

3)      Wotan captured Dr. Fate and the Spectre in Salem, Massachusetts.

4)      Johnny Thunder, Starman, and Sandman disappeared aboard a flying Spanish galleon in New York City.

Plastic Man points out that one of those individuals had to be Wesley Dodds. Hawkman’s deflection abilities clearly need improvement.

Hawkman reveals that he, along with Dr. Mid-Nite and the Atom battled the Monster a few hours ago at the Lincoln Memorial.  The Monster gasps out “Degaton” and vanishes. 

An editor’s note reveals the flashbacks are from “the prevue issue – see letters page for details”. I miss editor’s notes.

Hawkman and Plastic Man head to Washington, DC.  The duo is attacked by a men dressed like insects.  The insect men vanish before they can be questioned.

Mr. Hopkins, a member of the FBI, is urgently awaiting contact from the JSA. If no contact is made, “Sunday, December 7, 1941” is liable to go down as the most tragic day in America’s history!” Cue foreshadowing.

We change locations to the Hawaiian Islands as the Shining Knight is taking Winged Victory, his Pegasus, for a ride. 

The Shining Knight debuted in 1941.

Shining Knight is reflecting on his origin and his teammates in the Law’s Legionnaires.  The team consists of Vigilante, Crimson Avenger, Star-Spangled Kid, Green Arrow, and the Shining Knight. Justin notes that he is from the time of King Arthur (his liege-lord) but was “cast adrift, in a prison of ice, within which we slumbered for a thousand years..aye, and half as long again.”

Justin and Steve Rogers can be frozen-in-ice buddies!

The Law’s Legionnaires aka the Seven Soldiers of Victory formed in 1941.

Sir Justin encounters a red-haired damsel on the beach: geologist Danette Reily. If you are familiar with the pre-Crisis Earrth-2 characters, you know who Danette is.  If not, you’ll find out soon.  Danette is studying a local volcano.  She also mentions that her brother, an Ensign in the Navy, had to head back to Pearl Harbor.  Cue more foreshadowing.  The duo enters a cavern and encounter Professor Zodiak and Solomon Grundy.  Justin notes “’twas a battle with such an ogre as you which caused my passage into this modern world”. Grundy doesn’t take being called an ogre well. Solomon quickly defeats Danette and the Shining Knight.  The duo re-gain consciousness only to discover that they are prisoners of Grundy, Zodiak, Wotan, the Sky Pirate, and Per Degaton.

Per Degaton notes that two of their number – the Monster and King Bee – are no longer with them.  Per Degaton states that he has travelled back in time – from 1947 – to conquer the world itself!

Per Degaton debuted in 1947 and is a persistent foe of the Justice Society to the present day.

Solomon Grundy debuted in 1944 as a foe of Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern. He frequently battles the Justice Leage and Batman.

Wotan debuted in 1940. Best known as a nemesis of Doctor Fate.

Professor Zodiak debuted in 1948. He battled the World’s Finest.

The Sky Pirate debuted in 1947 and fought the Green Lantern.

King Bee debuted in 1943 and battled several members of the Justice Society.

The Monster debuted in 1944 and fought several members of the Justice Society.

Per Degaton, Solomon Grundy, and Wotan are fairly well-known characters but Roy Thomas’ use of the obscure Professor Zodiak, the Monster, the Sky Pirate, and King Bee shows his love of the Golden Age of comics.

Degaton informs the Shining Knight that he is a time-traveler from the year 1947.

Rod Reilly, Danette’s brother, is at Wheeler Field.  Rod reveals that he is Firebrand – a fact unknown to his military superiors. Rod has been picked up by his sidekick/chauffer Slugger Dunn.

Rod and Slugger debuted in 1941. Danette debuted in this very issue.

The attack on Pearl Harbor begins.  Rod Reilly and Slugger are wounded/killed from the gunfire of a Japanese plane. The time is noted to be 7:35 am.

We head back to Washington DC where the Atom and Dr. Mid-Nite – in full costume – are watching a football game.  Ed Simmons of the FBI approaches the duo and informs them of the ongoing attack on Pearl Harbor.  Robotman meets up with the duo and they head to the White House. Doctor Mid-Nite notes that he “read a police report on you, just a couple of weeks ago – how you came out of nowhere, to catch the murderers of Dr. Robert Crane”.

Doctor Midnight debuted in 1941, the Atom in 1940, and Robotman in 1942.

Johnny Chambers, a cameraman for Sees-All-Tells-All News, bumps into Libby Lawrence, a famous radio war correspondent.  They also head to the White House.

We get a quick recap of Libby’s background – she has spent most of World War II in Europe. She had to flee Poland when the Nazis attacked but her father was killed in Warsaw by a falling bomb. She had to flee Holland and France when those countries fell to the Germans. She was at Dunkirk and only escaped by swimming the channel over to England.

Plastic Man and Hawkman arrive at the White House.

Johnny and Libby split up and change into their respective heroic identities: Johnny Quick and Liberty Belle.  They also storm the White House.

Johnny Quick and Tubby Watts debuted in 1941. Liberty Belle debuted in late 1942/early 1943.

Johnny & Liberty are quite aware of the other’s secret identity – not that they choose to reveal it.

The Justice Society members try to pull rank but are shot down by the newcomers. As Johnny Quick states: “Much as I admire you JSA boys, especially the Flash, if the White House needs heroes with fancy powers, I’m as much an American as any of you!”

The heroes are ushered into a meeting with FDR.  FDR explains that his original plan was to get the JSA to Hawaii before the attack.  Obviously, that’s a no-go at this point.  The new plan is to mobilize every one of the nation’s costumed heroes into an All-Star Squadron.  Responsible only to FDR himself.

FDR assigns Plastic Man to be the liaison to the FBI.  Plastic Man was an FBI agent early in his comic book career. FDR refers to the heroes as “mystery men” and not as “super-heroes”.

FDR wants the group to fly to California to protect the mainland if necessary.  Liberty puts in a quick call to Philadelphia to have the Liberty Bell rung – it gives her a power boost. Thomas Revere, a member of Liberty Belle’s supporting cast, answers the call and rings the bell. Thomas debuted with Liberty Belle and is a descendant of Paul Revere.

Per Degaton, his cronies, Danette, and Sir Justin arrive in San Francisco.

Per Degagon brags that he has conquered time, and he will now conquer the planet.

Next: “The battle for San Francisco!”

A great first issue.  I’m always amazed by how much the older era comics crammed into a single, normal-sized issue.  In one issue, we had the capture of the Justice Society, the death(?) of the original Firebrand, the revelation of the bad guy, the formation of the new group, and glimpses into the origins of Liberty Belle and Shining Knight.  We also saw the start of the Johnny Quick and Liberty Belle romance.  This would take at least 4 issues in modern comics.

Roy Thomas has a lot of love for the characters of this era, and it shows. He not only has the heroes but they’re supporting cast and some rather obscure villains. I would recommend tracking down the 1980’s Secret Origin series if you would like to learn more about these characters.  Roy Thomas would write the origin stories for the Golden Age characters – they were interesting and entertaining even if you had never heard of the characters before.

[bishimightwing]

V; Randy Dandy Oh! (Pirate AU)

TW: Themes and/or mentions of violence, torture, blood, gore, rape, alcohol abuse, slavery, and sex/human trafficking are present.

This verse is compatible with fandoms/lores relevant to:

1600-mid 1800s colonial timelines and fantasies based in such

Norse/Celtic / Other pagan mythologies

Any Thor RPers (of Norse mythology and/or Marvel/MCU

any existing pirate themed franchises (Pirates of The Caribbean, Our Flag Means Death, Black Sails)

Assassin's Creed

Marvel Comics 1602 universe

Some canon DC muses that would be great for this AU (some of which I include in Dick's origin for this AU):

Raven

Zatanna

Bruce Wayne and any of the Batfam

Ra's al Ghul/League of Assassins/Al Ghul family

Lucius Fox

John Constantine

Madame Xanadu

Penguin

Poison Ivy

Swamp Thing

Jason Blood/Etrigan the Demon

Aquaman and Mera, any Atlanteans

Diana Prince and other Amazons

Joker

Harley Quinn

Clark Kent

Lois Lane

Oliver Queen

Jim Gordon

Lex Luthor

Falcone/other Gotham/DC based crime families and syndicates

Synopsis: Between the middle ages and early industrial eras of human history, piracy was the most revolutionary business to save souls from the clutches of slavery, taxing economies, and oppressive kingdom structures. The last bastion of hope for those who would have nothing left to fend for themselves. Such was the business carried on by generations of the Grayson bloodline, circa 1300s A.D. Europe. Richard John "Dicky" Grayson grew up an aspiring aerialist, as opposed to being optimistic about the chance to see the seven seas from aboard a water vessel. He read stories of the greats: Sir Francis, Blackbeard, and even some tragic lores like that of Davey Jones (which he thought to be nothing more than fantasy). Outside of these romantic fantasies, he, as well as his illegitimately married parents, John and Mary, lived their entire lives in a gang of outcasts, led by one Sir Haly; a once respectable socialite praised by the British Army and the elites which they served, whose tastes for the unusual, unexplained, and otherworldly things did not sit well with the King, who sought to make Gotham prime territory for the beginning of western colonial expansion.

For you see, Sir Haly's Circus practiced, unlawfully, as a safe haven for runaway slaves and indigenous folk seeking refuge. Haly was cast out by a supposed polite society, but knew if he could turn a sense of profit out of making refugees into showmen, he'd have enough shilling for eventual provisions of equity for those to whom he gave asylum. Not to mention, pirates would also be looking to him for resources, albeit, humans to traffic. Dicky didn't take well to certain aspects of this culture. So he got wise one day, taking a heavy sack of loot from his family's ring leader while he slept, and by morning one fateful spring day, he bribed a sailor for his ship.

Thus, The Nightwing's first voyage began. He woke up the whole circus of urchins, commanding them to haul ammunition, liquor, food, herbs, cutlery, and even a risky theft of local guard armory cannons and firearms onto the boat. The Graysons were the most worrisome about Dicky's plans, alongside Sir Haly of The Narrows, to whom Dicky would bestow first mate responsibility. The three were of the last standing in concern and trivial thought over the matter before a unit of Royal Navy opened fire in the public, John and Mary hopelessly in the crossfire. Haly had been fatally shot in a calf, limping on his way aboard the vessel. Dick had no choice but to flee, in spite of the tears raining over his cheeks in a look of absolute uncertainty. This was not what he had hoped for.

The Haly's crew set a course for Blüdhaven, a town of natives and refugees alike, not yet eyed for conquest by the Navy, where they might find the means for an expansion of the crew, as well as safe passage within the rivers of the Americas, most of which had been taken over by the British Navy. The crew would rest, recuperate, and hope to set sail for plunder beyond the colonized territories that were vastly becoming the last places their kind would be in before dying. But if the Royal Navy wants to stand in the way, then the blood of the King's men shall be the price to pay, for Dicky's loss, as well as for the suffering his Haly's family went through.

[saja-star]

do you think scientifically-minded villains ever give the robins shit over the fact that a robin's scientific name is turdus

[draggeddowntothedark]

𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐄 𝐀𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐂  :  𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐑 𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍

repost, don’t reblog.  bold whatever applies.

𝐆𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐂 𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐑 :   gaslights. corsets. ballrooms. candlelight. mist. starless nights. full moons. cobbled streets. horse-drawn carriages. mysterious strangers. bogs. moors. forests. mountains. castles. velvet. silver. brass. gold. jewels. domino masks. the opera. dangerous romances. tragic romances. violins. roses. lilies. empty graves. crosses. cemeteries. snow. ice. the gallows. crows. ambiguous illness. fangs. pointed nails. something howling in the night. capes. gloves. top hats. straight razors. lightning. pipe organs. underground caverns. bats. mice. rats. ravens. cats. pearls. attics. talismans. axes. wood. isolation in a room full of people. vampires. werewolves. ghosts. coffins. western europe. eastern europe. bones. churches. catacombs. mausoleums. books.

𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐂 𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐑 :   black and white. powder puffs. red lipstick. winged eyeliner. white kitten heels. black lace lingerie. icy blue eyes. rain. abandoned cars. skeletons. acid. poison. voyeurism. switchblades. strangling. overcoats. looking over your shoulder. trans-atlantic accents. private detectives. dinner parties. haunted mansions. alcohol in glass decanters. cobwebs. perfect blonde curls. kitchen knives. shock. cellars. dust. dark alleys. empty streets. driving at night. horn-rimmed glasses. radiation. zombies. serial murder. paranoia. the city. witches. the devil. cannibalism. conspiracies. amulets. abject terror. the american south. the american northeast. england. analog cameras.

𝐒𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐒 :   bloodbaths. massacres. wanton nudity. newspapers. leather jackets. letterman jackets. converse sneakers. obscured faces. social unrest. bonfires. lakes. babysitters. suburbia. high school. lockers. dead leaves in the fall. jack-o’-lanterns. outdated television sets. nightmares. psychiatrists. hospitals. unstoppable forces. gunfire. police. landline telephones. household objects turned into improvised weapons. halloween. secrets. revelations. character masks. scrunchies. queerness. wild curls. jeering children. parties. fire. swearing. revulsion. california. the american midwest. ambulances.

𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐋 𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐑 :    malevolent spirits. seances. spells. missing bodies.  hidden graves. white noise. static. flickering lights. rings of salt. demons. poltergeists. dark histories. old buildings. cold air. mausoleums. wells. urban exploration. a dog barking at something you can’t see. black ooze. old photographs. faces you can swear you’ve seen before but can’t for the life of you figure out where. dark bodies of water. crucifixes. priests. possession. exorcisms. dolls.

𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐃 &  𝐔𝐑𝐁𝐀𝐍 𝐋𝐄𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐑 :   aliens. blinding light. dark woods. driving at night. claw-marks. bite-marks. men in black. memory loss. dismembered bodies. sewers. flashlights. cell phones. video cameras. cars with tinted windows. abandoned houses. unlabeled cassette tapes. bugs. big cities. urban crimes. clowns. something rustling outside your window. glowing light. unsolved mysteries. suburbia. mirrors. the american Pacific Northwest. the american midwest. hiking  /  backpacking.

𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐑𝐒 :    daylight. fluorescent lighting. morgues. asylums. unwavering eye contact. tension. lit rooms with no one inside them. a dog digging in the newly-planted flower bed. steely gazes. paperwork. anagrams. codes. convicted killers. missing persons. law enforcement. federal agents. small towns. suspicion. paranoia. subdued terror. dimly-lit parking lots.

 Tagged by: @gothams-white-knight​

Tagging: @sanguisfulgur​ @localgcd​ and everyone else who wants to do this!

[kingsansa]

The preview of your modern au age difference socialite arranged marriage fic was very captivating and i’ll be waiting excitedly for it but i wanted to ask if you could give a summary of it. As in a little background of the universe. Thank you so so much for the stories you share with us, they make my day and i feel so happy reading them

Basically, it’s based off a comic that hasn’t left my mind called “Lady Gotham” by Ming Doyle. It’s a character study about Martha Wayne, Bruce Wayne’s mother, and how she came to be married to Thomas Wayne. It was an arranged marriage to merge two very powerful families in Gotham. There’s a 10 year plus age difference between them, but they still manage to fall in love and have Bruce and live happily ever after until their tragic end.

The premise of this story (which I’ve taken to tentatively calling deja vu) is mostly the same. Jon is a Targaryen, and Sansa is a Stark. Westeros is a big city, think New York, full of powerful families. After Ned is murdered, Robb is left in charge of the family company. Because it’s all but confirmed that Ned’s death was a hit paid for by the Lannisters, their business rival, Robb decides that they need an ally to help push the Lannisters out of the city. Rhaegar Targaryen comes to him and offers a partnership, but on the condition that Sansa marries his son. Though Robb doesn’t particularly like Jon—they were rivals in school—he knows that he’s a decent person, so he agrees. Catelyn is upset about it, but Sansa agrees because she wants the Lannisters out. Jon doesn’t want to marry Sansa. At all. She’s 20, and she’s the exact kind of girl he’s spent his entire life trying to avoid. But Rhaegar breaks the news to Jon that he’s dying of cancer and guilt trips him about the family legacy. He agrees. Their courtship lasts a summer, but ultimately it doesn’t work out.

Fast forward two years later. Jon has left criminal law for the corporate law. Sansa Stark is back in town for the summer from europe, where’s she’s spent the last couple years dancing as part of a ballet company. She’s been linked in the papers to Willas Tyrell—heir to a significant oil fortune. He’s handsome, kind, and popular. They’re seen all over town together: at galas and museum openings and sports games and carriage rides through the park. There’s talk that they’ll be married before the end of the summer.

Jon isn’t happy. Not one bit.

[jdkloosterman]

Gotham had, of course, its share of the criminals that haunted every town. Corrupt nobles like Earl Cobblepot, or unscrupulous churchmen like Bishop Edward of Nygma.  And, of course, thieves of every stripe and profession, though none nearly so prominent as "The Cat," Gotham's half-rumored master-thief, who folks said could walk into Gotham Castle itself and return with Lord Wayne's treasury to give to the citizens. Yet Gotham had also a special terror all its own, that made honest folk lock their doors and huddle inside close to their loved ones till morning light. They called it The Beast, the Dragon, the Darkness, the Thousand Smiles, the One Who Laughs. This last it was called by the Cultists of the Eternal Smile, who alone ventured out after dark, and died and slew in its name. By the order of their high priestess the Harlequin, they pursued bizarre and chaotic goals to further the supposed designs of their erstwhile god. (It was said by some that the cult followed not the designs of the Darkness or the Harlequin, but rather of Ra's  the Necromancer, the Demon's Head, who was said to have power over death, and indeed some in the cult, like the Iron Bane and the Dancing Scarecrow, seemed curiously deathless.) But truly, no one knew what The Darkness wanted. Few had ever seen it face to face, save the former Lord Chamberlain Dent, who escaped with only half his sanity. Some said it was the creature of Ras, by which he intended to seize the city. Others said that Ras sought to tame the creature, to bind it to his will.  And some whispered that the Darkness came from the Castle Gotham itself, the result of some unholy and tragic sin of Lord Wayne's, who was rumored to have had dealings with the Necromancer, or at least his daughter, in the past. For Lord Wayne seemed untouched by years, and as his subjects grew old and died, Lord Wayne himself endured. And men wondered. Yet none knew the truth. ****************** Finally finished my follow-up to the popular "Medieval Batman" picture from before. I'm really liking how my method of coloring the pictures by hand before overlaying them with the digital colored version works, but it's very time consuming. My idea for the mythology is that Castle Gotham is on top of a Lazarus Pit, which Vampire Batman needs to keep to sustain him. But keeping the Lazarus pit somehow also generates the One Who Laughs, who is constantly trying to find the Lazarus Pit to complete his incarnation. The whole affair began years and years ago, when Talia, at her father's behest, sought out Wayne and showed him the pit. Maybe Wayne was afraid of death and asked her, or maybe she betrayed him and has always regretted it, but the upshot was that Wayne became a vampire and the Lazarus Pit was awoken, and now Ra's and his undead minions are constantly trying to get at it.   Really, this whole "fanfiction" idea is so far away from the original it might as well be its own story. NEWS ON MY BOOK: Okay, we have a release date! The Hospitaller Oath will be coming out on Monday, with the free promotion on Tuesday! (For some reason Amazon won't allow you to run a free book promotion your first day of release.) It's the thrilling follow up to The Nephilim Protocol (which I've been posting here and on my blog, but you can buy it too.), and it's an action-packed story about Chad racing across Europe one step ahead of the authorities as he tries to keep a dangerous weapon of legend out of the hands of Russian super-soldiers, while protecting the crippled heiress they're trying to assassinate. Please pick up a copy for free on Tuesday! Read it! Review it! Enjoy it, unless you're a joyless person who doesn't like stories about half-angel Nephilim and Soviet conspiracies! It'll mean a lot to me.

[smokeybrand]

The Cape and The Cowl

A friend of mine posted a meme questioning who would win a fight between Doctor Doom and Batman. My gut reaction is to say it’s real bad for Bruce but, as i thought about it more and more, i kind of feel like its not so cut-and-dry. There is a lot of nuance that needs to be considered between the two characters rather than just a “smash the action figured together” scenario. Of course, there is the surface stuff like how would they interact generally? What would the catalyst be in order to incite said conflict? Why would Doom even see Bruce as a threat? If you think about it objectively, an all things are even, to Vic, Batman is just a crazy person losing his are on crime in a raggedy ass city. Victor von Doom is a the reagent of an entire country with a GDP that rivals some superpowers in the MCU. Like, the USA has diplomatic relations with a blip in Eastern Europe, because Doom has the military power to wreck he US in open aggression. Latveria will lose in a prolonged conflict, that’s just a question of resources, but that little country would absolutely inflict upon the US in a slow bleed. Imagine the War on Terror but with competent leadership and actual, discipline, military strategy. Why the f*ck would Doom care what the f*ck is going on out in Jersey? More than that. the similarities between the two characters is staggering.

We all know the origin of Batman. We’ve seen that sh*t how many times now? It’s like getting a new Spider-Man joint and having to watch Uncle Ben die all over again. It’s trite at this point but so essential to the character, we need a refresher every time Bats shows up onscreen. That trauma informs everything he is, as it would if you watched your parents gunned down in cold blood as a child, and then laid with their still warm corpses for however long until the police came. What a lot of people don’t know is the origin of Doctor Doom. Being a villain, Doom rarely gets his motivations explored outside of some megalomaniac Dr. No type f*ckery. However, Victor von Doom is a person. He started out life as a happy kid and learned to be Doctor Doom, just like Bruce learned to be Batman. Doom is actually a refugee. True, Doom was born an aristocrat, but Latveria was overthrown when he was still young so he was never able to be raised in that level of opulence. His mom was also murdered before he was ten years old. Just like Bruce, Doom experienced a horrific truth that would color his world perspective for the rest of his life. Doom would eventually find his way to the US as he was brilliant. Like, unheard of intelligent and it would be his exposure to the US lifestyle, after years of conflict and struggle, which would make him realize how easy life could be if someone just did what was necessary. And then Reed happened.

Reed Richards was, is, a fulcrum in Vic’s life. They have a relationship similar to Batman an Superman but the opposite. Whereas Batman values Clark’s perspective because it helps him keep perspective, Vic finds Reed to be absurd. He sees Reed for who e is and doesn’t understand why no one else can. Reed Richards is a reckless, excitable, short-sighted, glory-hog. He is. If you read the character with any semblance of realism, you’d see that. Ho many times has Sue comments on how she and the rest of his family, take a backseat to science? How many times has Reed, himself, sacrificed a relationship or to, in service to the solution of an equation? Doom saw all of that in college. Reed represents the structural issues of the world and it frustrates Vic to no end. In some continuities, the genesis of Vic going full Doom rest on an accident Reed commits because of that shortsightedness. It goes a long way to checking Reeds ego and he does become a better person for it, but it was at the cost of scarring Vic for life, both physically and mentally. Yet another example of the system, ruining Doom’s life.

Bruce, after his trauma, has kept a strong support system. First and foremost, since day one, he had Alfred. Doom had no one. Bruce then built a family, adopting all of the children and surrounding himself with love. Doom’s one true love died and was dragged down to hell. We know this because he punches out Mephisto whenever he can. Also, his mom is down there, too. Bruce eventually met Diana and Kal, becoming fast friends and life long confidants. Outside of Catwoman, I think Diana makes for the perfect romantic partner of Bruce and that is shown in several continuities. Reed just reinforced Doom’s disgust with the machinations of the world, eventually further degrading Doom’s tenuous hold of his ability to trust in others, by psychically maiming him. The negative impact Reed had on Doom’s life is f*cking profound, man. I’m not saying Doom should have taken it as far as he did, but it’s hard to argue against trying to kill a dude who had ruined years of your work, destroyed you reputation, and physically maimed you forever. That doesn’t seem wholly outrageous to me. I think it’s called justifiable homicide? The only reason Doom stopped trying to murder Reed is because Valeria was born. Valeria became the first person Doom felt real affection for, since the death of his wife. I think Morgan le Fay could be another, but that might have just been a time-space booty call. Valeria Richards and her relationship with he Uncle Doom, is what gave Vic the strength to be better. Bruce had that love his entire life, even immediately after his darkest day. Doom went decades without it.

Up until Valeria was born, all Doom had was his time spent as a destitute street rat, struggling to survive, to inform him about life and the world at large. That brazen cruelty for sure emotionally crippled him in a lot of ways, I'm not even going to start to defend his arrogance or superiority complex, but trauma does that. That's why i think Bats would eventually come around. They've both seen the absolute worst of the world and, in a lot of ways, go about righting those wrongs in the same way. If you pay attention, and the writer is worth their salt, you'd see that Latveria is an autocratic socialist paradise. Latverians are among the most literate, healthy, and happy people in the 616. Jobs are plentiful and crime is almost non-existent. Mans even cured cancer, which he made available to the world, if those people choose to make the trip to Latveria for treatment. The world of 616, at large, likes to paint Vic as this evil despot but, if you interview a laymen of Latveria, they’ll sing his praises. Most people forget that, before Doom returned for his birthright, Latveria was a whole ass occupied state. Think the relationship between Israel and Palestine. Latveria was basically falling into doorknobs for Symkaria and pretending that they weren’t in an abusive relationship. Doom showed up and changed all that. It was a bloody f*cking conflict, for sure, and i am certain Vic committed war crimes, but the end result was a free Latveria with a strong international presence. Doom is a hero to those people but a villain to other nations because of how he rose to power and, more importantly, how independent he made hi country from the world system. Doom did what was necessary to free his people, a march too far for Bruce and that’s why Gotham is the way that it is.

People who don’t know the character like to paint Vic as ego-maniacal villain, and that was valid when comics were just "hero smash bad guy", but we've grown beyond that. Every pop culture interpretation of Doom, outside of the comics, has him as this stoic, arrogant, asshole, dictator bu that’s just not an accurate portrayal of how Doom is in a modern capacity. Vic is definitely an autocrat but he’s no dictator. He can be cruel at times to specific individuals but he is generally benevolent to his people. He doesn’t portray himself as a strongman but he does let it be known he’ll nuke anyone or anything if it means furthering his overall goals which, currently, is the safety and security of Latveria. His country isn’t a police state and his people are free to do as they please but their is a line, just like everywhere else in the world. Doom just has a shorter one and enforces that with extreme prejudice. I’m not going to sit here and say everything is great in Latveria, it’s definitely not, but it ain’t so hot in 616 America either. How many Civil Wars have they had? What about that whole  tidbit with Hydra Cap? There is nuance and gray nowadays, areas that both Bats and Doom comfortably call home. Batman is, objectively, not a pure hero. He is, at best, a chivalric anti-hero and similarly, Doom is more of an anti-villain than the mustache twirling, boogeyman, mastermind pop media portrays him to be. Batman and Doom are basically the same person, with the same motivations, only Doom is willing to go much, much, further than Bruce; A difference in method you an attribute to their respective upbringings.

If Doom had the same support system as Bruce, he’d create miracles. We’ve seen glimpses of that throughout the years. Dooms last run culminated with him essentially obliterating an entire universe where he had the support necessary to build a proper utopia. Our Doom couldn’t fathom the choices made by this variant Doom because of how broken he is. If Bruce was alone in his formative years like Victor, he’d commit atrocities. We’ve seen glimpses of that over they years, too. There are various narratives that explore just such a tragic turn of events, explored in the Death Metal series of books. Dawnbreaker immediately comes to mind. Bruce and victor are the same side of the same coins. It's literally a crap shoot as to which side of the alignment chart either leans. And as if to inform my point further, we just recently had Joker War. That book went a long way to exposing the absolute necessity of raw force, in order to properly “save”Gotham. Joker was able to completely dismantle that entire city by attacking the machinery put in lace to make it run. He effectively proved that The Batman was part of the problem and would never be the solution because Bruce doesn’t go far enough. He puts out fires but never address the sparks which start those blazes. He doesn’t go far enough. He never will. His code won’t allow him to. But Doom can. Doom did. Honestly, if you really want to keep it real, what is Bruce's endgame? What does a healthy Gotham City look like? It looks a lot like f*cking Latveria.

So to answer this question outright, i don’t think they even fight. The way this hypothetical was set up had three rounds: the first being a standard donnybrook, the second being prep time, and the last being god mode. To be perfectly honest with you, it wouldn't make it past the first round. If i had to say, with pedestrian or normie level understanding of he characters, Doom sweeps all categories. For Round one, Doom’s armor trumps all of Batman’s gadgets. For Round Two, Doom has more resources at his fingertips for prep. For Round The God Emperor Doom exists. He created several realities and killed a few Beyonders. Batman sat in a chair which gave him access to all the wisdom in the multiverse, and realized there were three Jokers. Doom all the way. My informed opinion as someone who adores both these character more than most would have me think there wouldn’t even be a conflict to begin with. I think they’d investigate the inciting catalyst, meet in person with intent to attack if necessary, size each other up until one of them made the proposal to just talk, they'd converse, and the fight would end with both of them walking away from each other with begrudging respect. Doom would admire Bruce's will and Bruce would understand the necessity of Doom's position in the world because, if you can make it make sense, Bruce will usually agree. Batman, for all of his shortcomings, is not naive to the world. He’s seen the same darkness as Doom. Doom, for all of his pompous arrogance, understands the struggle to maintain faith in those around you, even if that noble aspiration is misplaced. Bruce is one bad day away from Doom and Doom is a decades worth of days from being Bruce. They mirror each other and i think they’d see that, taking each other as cautionary tales before becoming collaborators. I don’t see them ever really becoming friends but i don't think they’d ever be true enemies.

[incorrectbatfam]

For the vampier au: how do they each get turned?

The year is 1000 BCE. Ra’s and Talia Al Ghul rule the Persian empires as two of the first vampires in existence, existing largely in secret. They make it their goal to turn as many people over to their side as possible, whether by battle or biting. Biologically, Damian was born a vampire and they utilize some arcane magic to make him appear as a child forever, because even back then people knew that children were far better at getting their way than adults. Honed as a weapon for literally millenia, Damian Al Ghul practically becomes a cryptid in his own right. Villagers shared stories of people who saw the child and never being the same—or worse, never returning. The Al Ghuls were responsible for the most well-known vampires in history, including the famous Count Dracula.

The year is 800 BCE. At 200 years old, Damian was still considered very young for a vampire. He is sent on a mission to turn to their side a young lady who was practically viewed as a goddess by other women, and who aspired to become one of the greatest poets of all time. Talia dropped Damian off on the island of Lesbos. Faster than lightning, the child warrior swooped down and bit the legendary Sappho. Now an immortal, Sappho dedicated her eternity of free time to her passion for writing, where she composed her famous Ode To Aphrodite. Eventually she got bored of Greece, so she changed her appearance and set off exploring the greater Asian continent.

The year is 1206. Genghis Khan had conquered much of the world. Under the Mongol empire, it was as common for women to serve in army as men. One of Khan’s most distinguished fighters came from the Manchuria region. She was a mercenary for the army, a lone wolf. And though she found thrill in battle, she was lonely. And, as fate may have it, so was Sappho. They met in a village where the army was stationed and forged a tight-knit partnership. They laughed together, they fought together. And the thought of being separated was unimaginable. So when Sappho revealed herself to be a vampire, the Mongol warrior jumped at the chance to become one too. And so she was transformed with consent, and together they roamed the world in search for adventure.

The year is 1775. The two girls had heard of this supposed New World and the colonies Britain established. They wanted to see it for themselves. Changing their names and appearances to something more Anglican, Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain boarded a ship set for what would become modern-day New Jersey. Immediately they found a stark lack of immortals there and they didn’t want to be the only ones, so they set off on a biting spree, turning men, women, children, and even a few farm animals (two dogs, a cat, a cow, and a turkey) without care. One of these victims was an elderly English nobleman named Alfred Pennyworth. Cassandra took the animals under her wing, while Stephanie felt bad for Alfred because he seemed to have nobody around. So the girls “adopted” Alfred as their grandfather so he wouldn’t be lonely either. 

The year is 1871. Haly’s Circus was the most popular traveling show during Europe’s Industrial Age. Disguised as mother and child laborers working behind the scenes, Damian and Talia were on the lookout for new potential soldiers. And who would make a more perfect killer than the swift, agile Flying Graysons? Talia tried persuading John and Mary nicely, using Damian’s adorable boyish face, and they did give in. At least, at first. But within a few months of John, Mary, and Richard being turned, the parents changed their mind. They wanted nothing to do with Ra’s Al Ghul’s agenda and threatened to expose the vampires to the world. Talia had no choice but to get rid of them. She paid a lower-level mortal criminal to rig the ropes and douse the trapezes in holy water, which would lead to the downfall of John and Mary. The press reported it as a tragic accident. Alfred, who was at the circus during his holiday when it happened, couldn’t help but notice the burn marks on their hands. He chalked it up to coincidence or a prior unrelated injury in the end

The year is 1920. All that the grieving Richard Grayson wanted was to get away from the ghost of his past. He traveled to America, settling in the subpar city of Gotham, New Jersey. As much as he wanted to drink his troubles away, it was just his luck that he arrived at the beginning of Prohibition. His apartment was near a speakeasy, though, so he frequented that. The underground bar itself was owned by mob boss Jason Todd, who was notorious for brandishing guns and picking drunken fights—and winning all of them. But his streak would end when he had one too many glasses of moonshine and challenged an unwilling Richard Grayson to a fistfight. “What, you gonna back out, ya little dick?” Jason taunted. The former Flying Grayson himself wasn’t in the most sober state ever, so after some convincing and people placing betting money on the table, they took up the challenge. It was the roughest fight that bar had ever seen, and in a final act of self-defense, Richard bit Jason. (Granted, it wasn’t in the neck, but a bite was a bite). Jason becoming vampire wasn’t the worst consequence. No, it the older one being stuck with a terrible nickname: Dick.

The year was 1965. One of Ra’s fortune tellers predicted an influx of young soldiers arriving in Vietnam before war was even declared, and Ra’s sent his grandson to a rural village in the country undercover to find more recruits as the League of Assassins’ influence was diminishing. The environment of thick, bushy jungles worked in Damian’s favor as he was able to hide and strike on French and U.S. soldiers. He even managed to turn all but two members of a New Jersey infantry. Later on, the government reported one of the drafted soldiers, Duke Thomas, as missing, but in reality the young man went into hiding with two other vampire soldiers on his squad. And it was a reasonable move—mass media was on the rise and the last thing anyone needed was vampires being exposed as real to the public. Not only that, but Duke displayed abilities that the other two didn’t have, likely attributed to the combined effects of vampire magic and chemical agents like Napalm used at the time, and neither General Grayson nor Lieutenant Todd knew what to make of it.

The year was 1999. A teenage Tim Drake was out on a late-night grocery run to get more supplies, because 2000 was in just a few months and everyone was preparing for the supposed end of the world. He made the grave mistake of taking a shortcut through Crime Alley in an effort to get home on time, and was bitten in the leg by a “homeless” kid who seemed to appear out of nowhere before scurrying off. He didn’t experience anything strange for the next few years. He got plenty of sunburns, but he burned easily even before the incident. He kept his bedroom dark and stayed awake all night, but so did a lot of teenagers during that grunge/post-punk era. Silver felt weird, which he brushed off as an allergy. He avoided churches but that was because religion was never his thing. He craved red meat and avoided garlic, but hey, people had their likes and dislikes. It wasn’t until about five years later, when Tim realized he hadn’t aged a day, that he considered doing some research. 

The year was 2019. Bruce Wayne was at one of his famous Wayne Enterprises gala on New Year’s when he met a stunningly beautiful woman named Talia. She slipped a little something into his drink when he wasn’t looking. Bruce couldn’t remember what happened after that, only waking up with a killer hangover and strange hickey on his neck. He had been Batman for a while now, and when he started experiencing unexplainable things he sought the help of the magician Zatanna, who found out that somebody turned him into a vampire. If he wasn’t brooding before, he definitely was now, and it didn’t help that the butler was a smartass. Alfred revealed to Bruce that he had been a vampire the whole time, looking over the Wayne family since Thomas’s father’s father, because the wealthy Waynes made easy targets for the supernatural. In an attempt to make Bruce feel less alone, Alfred invited Stephanie and Cassandra over for dinner (“Alfred, great to see you again! It’s been, like, a hundred years!”). It was over dinner that Bruce asked questions and the older vampires told their stories, and Alfred offhandedly mentioned something about Haly’s Circus that caught Bruce’s attention. Fresh burn marks from touching a trapeze? Something didn’t seem right. Though the case was over a century old, Bruce did some searching on the Batcomputer and found too many discrepancies in the Flying Grayson case for it to be just a regular accident. With Stephanie and Cassandra’s help, Bruce traced the parents’ deaths back to the League of Assassins. But one new questioned surfaced after all this: what happened to Richard? That question would be answered a few weeks later when Bruce dug up another cold case: a file about an MIA Vietnam War soldier from Gotham, Duke Thomas. He tracked down Duke’s whereabouts, and it turned out he was hiding from the League of Assassins with two other missing people from history: the circus performer Richard Grayson and mobster Jason Todd. Bruce offered him the best damn thing in their eyes: sanctuary. He took all three of them under his bat wing and they joined his immortal crusade against Gotham crime. Some time later, Talia introduced Damian to Bruce under the guise that Damian was Bruce’s son, citing the night she met Bruce at the party. Damian only agreed to Talia’s infiltration plan because he was sick of how Ra’s treated him, like an object rather than a being. So although the paternity test came out negative, Bruce still insisted that Damian was his son and kept him. As for Tim Drake? His story is pretty much the same: deducing Batman and Nightwing’s identities and demanding to join them—classic Timmers move

[britishwit]

[ DAN STEVENS, HE/HIM, 39 ] JOHN CONSTANTINE has been spotted in gotham city! the ANTI HERO is publicly known as HELLBLAZER, and have often been described as WITTY, but also CYNICAL. they have also been affiliated with JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK, and said to mainly operate in LONDON. will they help find answers, or add to the chaos? [ juliet, she/her, 20, gmt+1]

hello friends!! 

❇ john constantine is the worst british street wizard you will ever meet. 

❇ he is an occult detective slash con artist slash sorcerer whose hobbies include being a chain-smoking bisexual mess, making fun of justice league, gambling with demons every friday, making out with a different set of demons every saturday and letting everyone he loves down.

❇ he has a tragic backstory quelle surprise. john grew a strong interest in magic as a young boy. he began experimenting with magic...  and not much later he stumbled upon a powerful spell which he highly regrets casting to this day. john did not know that the said spell (which promised to make him a powerful magician) required a sacrifice. john’s childhood house was caught on fire and he lost his entire family. . 

❇  on a much lighter note, john used to be the leader singer of a mystical-themed punk band as a young adult. he also studied magic both in europe and in america.

❇  he is a skilled sorcerer who rarely uses his magical abilities. instead, he prefers to cheat his way out of tricky situations and his cunning nature has saved him multiple times. 

❇  his often questionable methods have gained him a bad reputation in the magical community. both demons and other magicians hate him.... and so super heroes. and  so does constantine. :-( 

❇  however, deep down, john is a compassionate person who does care about others. in fact, he cares too much and masks it by acting like a piece of crap. mostly because everyone he meets ends up getting hurt in one way or another. thanks to his incredibly bad luck (trust me u don’t want me to elaborate), john is personally responsible for many, many tragic losses. 

❇  he used to be the unofficial leader of the emo version of the justice league aka justice league dark....  but then, unsurprisingly, john ruined everything. 

if you’d like to plot with me pls don’t hesitate to hmu! 

[undertheinfluencerd]

https://ift.tt/3BDdLLl #

The big bad of the new Suicide Squad is a giant kaiju-like creature known as Starro. Fans of DC Comics likely recognized the alien parasite immediately. Starro has played a significant role in the history of DC superhero comics, including being the very first villain the Justice League ever faced.

RELATED: 9 Things About The Suicide Squad That Made No Sense

Since then, Starro has been a major villain and a hero, with his complex backstory playing a big role in comic book storylines over the last sixty years. Starro might be the villain in The Suicide Squad, but as longtime comic book readers know, that’s not the entire story about this fascinating character.

Updated on September 3rd, 2021 by Darby Harn: Starro’s showcase as the villain of The Suicide Squad has brought a lot more attention to the cosmic creature and his history in DC Comics. From the Silver Age to the current day, Starro has been a fixture in comic book storylines that mostly involve the Justice League, though he occasionally branches out into other books as well. Though his fate in the movies seems sealed for the moment, he has an infinite future in the multiverse of the comics, as well as a rich past that provides fans of the character a lot more to explore after the movie.

15 The First Villain Of The Justice League

Starro has the distinction of being the first villain the Justice League ever fought together. He debuted in the team’s very first appearance in The Brave And The Bold #28 in 1960, co-created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Mike Sekowsky. Starro arrived from space and began absorbing the mental energy of scientists, leading the major heroes of the early Silver Age to come together to stop him.

The original Justice League included Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and the Martian Manhunter. Starro had another inadvertent influence on comic history as well. The success of the Justice League led Marvel Comics to create the Fantastic Four, co-created by the legendary combo of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

14 The Star Conqueror

Starro looks like a giant starfish, but in fact, he’s a highly intelligent and powerful alien entity. Starro originates from the Star Conquerors, an ancient race of alien beings that use mind control powers to conquer planets. Starro has taken over nine galaxies just on his own, but he’s been frustrated in every attempt to take over the Earth thanks to the Justice League.

Starro only made sporadic appearances in the comic until the ’80s, when he became a more prevalent threat to newer iterations of the Justice League.

13 Generates Spores

The most frightening aspect of Starro is just how he achieves his control of other people. Starro is a gigantic creature (though he can change size in some cases) and generates thousands of tiny starfish-like versions of himself.

These latch onto people, covering their face – not unlike the Face Hugger from the Alien franchise – and seize control of their central nervous system. Starro can control millions and even billions of people at once through this terrifying method of attack.

12 Cosmic Powers

Beyond the generation of spores, Starro is cosmically powerful. He has a broad array of abilities that should rank among the most powerful DCEU villains. The most significant aspects of Starro’s powers lie in telepathy and telekinesis, unsurprising given his very nature.

Starro also has the ability to project energy beams, as he often did against the Justice League. He can fly through space, is generally invulnerable to most physical attacks, and can change size and color at will, depending on the situation.

11 Conquering Europe

In the early ’90s, Starro achieved his greatest success in his bid for the conquest of Earth. Starro, who had been trapped on Earth for some time, finally escapes, or so it seems. He releases millions of spores over Europe, seizing control of virtually the entire population.

This leads the Justice League Europe branch to try and liberate the continent. The story, which took place over Justice League Europe #24-28 in 1991, sees Starro in control of Europe until JLE member Ice freezes him, releasing all of his captive humans.

10 Once Known As Cobi

As is pretty much the standard for DC Comics characters, Starro The Conqueror’s backstory varies depending on what version of continuity he exists in. In one iteration, he was once known as Cobi. Cobi was actually a member of the Hatorei alien species whom the Star Conquerors decimated.

One of the Star Conquerors fixed to Cobi and together they formed the being that would become known as Starro. The Cobi version of Starro was revised back to just plain old Starro in the Flashpoint comic book event from 2011.

9 Fought Against The 99

One of Starro’s major engagements in the comics pitted him against The 99. The comic book crossover JLA/The 99 from 2010 brought the Justice League together with the all-Muslim superhero team The 99 from Teshkeel Comics, a Kuwaiti comic book company.

RELATED: The 10 Most Powerful Versions Of DC’s Justice League, Ranked

The two teams faced off against the combined forces of Starro The Conqueror and Rughal, an ancient villain of The 99 who seeks the Noor Stones. Starro and Rughal don’t so much as team up as just pick really bad times to set off their evil plots.

8 Traded To Lord Manga

After his defeat by the Justice League Europe, Starro is frozen in captivity. His story takes a strange turn when Captain Atom trades the frozen Starro to supervillain Lord Manga (also known as Khan) for an unspecified favor in the future.

This trading was somewhat typical for Manga as he once traded the Justice League his android L-Ron. Lord Manga’s status as an intergalactic trader is how he ends up with Starro in the first place; Manga had also taken Despero into custody from the JLA and once tried to trade a kidnapped Mister Miracle to Apokalips.

7 Took Control Of The Martian Manhunter

Starro The Conqueror seeks to control the minds and bodies of basically everyone he comes into contact with. In the comic book storyline Justice League: No Justice, Starro takes control of J’onn J’onzz, The Martian Manhunter, with unexpected results.

As the two fight alongside the Justice League against the invading alien forces of the Omega Titans, the compassionate nature of the Martian Manhunter influences Starro to consider a life beyond conquering for the first time.

6 Starro The Cat

There are many versions of Starro The Conqueror throughout the DC Comics multiverse. One of the most unique is Starro The Cat. This version actually isn’t an alien parasite but the housecat of Snapper Carr, a superhero who fought with the Justice League against the alien Starro in his first adventure.

That led him to name his pet cat after the alien supervillain. Starro The Cat made a few appearances after his debut in Hourman #1 in 1999, and never caused as much trouble as his villainous namesake.

5 Fighting The Avengers

The Avengers have faced off against some very powerful villains in the comics, like the devilish Mephisto. One of their most unexpected foes was Starro.

The DC supervillain faced off against Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in the crossover JLA/Avengers, which brought together the two powerhouse superhero teams in 2003. The battle occurs as a result of a cosmic chess match between Krona from DC and The Grandmaster from Marvel that forces both teams to seek out artifacts of extreme power.

4 Heroic Sacrifice

Starro is nominally a villain in any universe he appears in, but in more recent years, he became something of a hero. In the pages of Justice League: No Justice in 2018, the heroism of Martian Manhunter inspires Starro to act in a more utilitarian fashion.

This ultimately leads to a heroic sacrifice on his part. Starro attempts to mind control one of the Omega Titans but is ripped apart by the titanic villain. While tragic for Starro, this move saves many lives and allows the Justice League to evacuate the planet of Colu.

3 Jarro

Starro had died, but his story took one of its most eccentric turns when Batman grows a new version of the character from a tissue sample of the original. He dubs this miniature version of the character ‘Jarro.’ Jarro debuted in Justice League #10 in 2018.

RELATED: Batman’s 10 Weirdest Comic Book Arcs

Jarro retains all of Starro’s power and potential, but he seems to have a much more amenable personality, and an unlikely friendship with Batman that leads to one of the zaniest comic moments in recent history.

2 The New Robin

Jarro really likes and identifies with Batman, to the point he wants to become the new version of Robin. He does, at least in his head. In a funny and heartwarming sequence in Justice League #29, in 2019. In his elaborate fantasy, Jarro dons a Robin costume, complete with a cape and custom fit to allow his singular eye to see through it.

He fights alongside The Dark Knight defending Gotham. It’s only a fantasy, and never becomes reality, at least not yet.

1 Red Lantern Starro

One of the most frightening versions of Starro in the comics is the Red Lantern Starro. He debuted in the alternate universe depicted in Injustice: Gods Among Us: Year Four Annual #1.

This version of the character is in possession of a Red Lantern ring and is thus a member of the Red Lantern Corps. Red Lanterns are fueled by rage, giving them their distinctive crimson color. Red Lanterns can generate Rage Plasma, which incinerates essentially anything. In addition to his other cosmic powers, this made Starro even more deadly.

NEXT: 10 Most Powerful Kaiju In The DC Universe, Ranked

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The post The Suicide Squad: 15 Things Only Comics Fans Know About Starro appeared first on undertheinfluencerd.net.

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[jupitermelichios]

Daughter of the Demon: on writing the Al Ghuls

I can’t make any promises about when the next chapter of Gotham Ghoul will go up, but I can make the promise that when it does, it will include the first appearance of Talia Al Ghul into the narrative proper.

She’s been there in the meta-narrative since the beginning, as she always is in stories featuring a younger Damian, but it’s been in hints and allusions. This will be her first chance to speak for herself.

And that got me thinking, about Talia as a character, about her history, and about the way I write her, and I thought I would share those thoughts with you here.

Talia, probably more than any other major DC character (certainly more than any other Major Bat-roster character), is defined by her relationships. Specifically her relationships with men. She is Raas’s daughter, Bruce’s 'one that got away’, Damian’s mother, Jason’s ‘it’s complicated’. She isn’t her own anything.

In her earliest appearances, she’s as close to a strong female character as you were going to get, given the time it was written and her race (more on that below). But’s she’s still a stereotype. She’s a non-white woman, physically strong but emotionally vulnerable, who falls in love with a white man who can’t return her feelings (nominally because of her morality, meta-narratively because she’s not white) and betrays her culture for him, only to be abandoned later on. It’s not a new story - it’s one Hollywood loves. Most often it gets assigned to women from East Asia, but Arab and Indian women got it a lot as well. Talia is certainly one of the better examples of this, she has a lot more freedom than most women trapped in this trope, but ultimately she is still a trope.

After that, she was mostly just... gone. She popped up from time to time, but she’d already played out her assigned role in the hero’s life, so even though Raas stuck around, she was very much shunted into the background.

Then Grant Morrison came along and turned her into a villain by creating Damian. We find out she had a child with Bruce a decade ago and chose not to tell him. She raised Damian to be an assassin, taught him how to kill, and then basically dumps him on Bruce’s doorstep with a note around his neck saying “please look after this child”. And there are a hundred possible reasons for this, but they’re never given. She is made a villain by silence.

She managed to remain morally grey for a few years, but it didn’t take long for the demonisation of Talia to begin in earnest. (Probably didn’t help that this was the mid-2000s - not a good time to be Arab in American media). The recent introduction of Damian into DC’s animated movie universe included the reveal that Talia just straight up didn’t love her only son. Seriously, that’s the big end of movie plot twist - Talia is evil and doesn’t love her son. In more recent comics, Talia actually clones Damian because Damian isn’t the obedient killing machine she had wanted. This clone goes on to kill the original Damian. (It’s okay, he got better).

In between tragic love-interest and evil step-mother stereotypes, she has one other notable appearance. As the mother-figure and lover of a teenage Jason Todd. When Jason is brought back from the dead, it’s Talia who finds him, takes him back to a League of Assasins base and uses a Lazarus pit to heal him. She defies her father to protect him, cares for and comforts him, spends what is probably a fortune in money and favours getting him the training he wants, buys out a major corporation for him, makes no attempt to stop him from killing Batman, and begins a sexual relationship with him. He’s 15 when he dies, and 19 or 20 when he leaves. It’s not clear how old he is when the sexual relationship begins, but given his mental and emotional state, and the age difference between them and her position of power, the answer is too damn young.

When you add all that together, the picture it paints is not a positive one, and there’s a risk of her more recent appearances colouring her earlier storylines. It’s happened a lot, writers both professional and fan, assuming that Talia’s interest in Bruce is mercenary, that she never loved him, that he would never have had unprotected sex with a villain so she must have tricked him in some way in order to get pregnant. (That last one is at least supported by the confused timeline in which it is both 10 years and approximately 12 years between contraception and Damian’s first appearance, leading some to suggest later artificial insemination using Bruce’s sperm collected the night they slept together).

That’s one way to reconcile the various tropes that makeup Talia, but it’s one I hate. I hate that she went from eccentric but loving mother to emotionless monster in only a couple of years. I hate that her story is always one of tragedy or villainy.

For me, the key to writing a Talia who is sympathetic without being unrecognisable is her age. It’s never been established (as far as I’m aware) just how old Talia is. We know Raas is ancient. We know Damian is ten. Given that she appeared to be an adult in her first appearances, that puts her age at 30+. Beyond that, we have no idea, except that a lot of her behaviours make more sense when looked at from the perspective of great age. She kept Damian from his father for ten years, but ten years is an eyeblink if you have access to Lazarus Pits. She began a relationship with someone who was a child by the standards of his own culture, but to her, all mortals are little more than children, and he was a warrior who had seen battle - to her that it probably a far better measure of age than mere years.

Talia, as I write her, is a loving mother with very little idea of what motherhood entails beyond her memories of her own upbringing. She is at least 200 and considers all humans younger than their mid-40s to be little more than children. She kept Damian away partly because to her, ten years is nothing, and partly because she had no real guide for how Bruce as a mortal American human would treat a young child beyond the way he had treated Dick, Jason and Tim, and so waited until Damian was a skilled warrior before allowing them to meet. She is largely amoral, unlike her father, and her primary motivator is, above all else, love. Her life is defined by her relationships to other people by choice, because relationships provide anchor points in time. Technology might change, but from her point of view humanity has remained more or less the same. The reference points, the moments that mark out the years as different from one another, are her relationships. With Bruce, with Jason, with the lovers who came before both men and women (because my Talia is bi), and with her son. Her only son. The only biological child she has allowed herself to have in her long life. Keeping these people safe and well is her only moral code, but she isn’t a monster. She has no reason to be a monster. It offers no advantages (except occasionally when it is useful for protecting her loved-ones).

Her feelings for Bruce were genuine, she would have married him given the chance, but she was also willing to let him walk away, to leave her, because mortal lovers are always fleeting, it is something she has accepted about life before even Alfred was born.

Also she and Scandal Savage have hooked up in the past.

So yeah, this was a bit rambly, and my Talia may not be your Talia, but I wanted to have there here as I begin introducing her into Gotham Ghoul. This is Talia al Ghul as I see her.

Sidenote: I said earlier I was going to talk a little bit about Talia’s race. So. The way Raas collected bits of other cultures he likes and claims them for his own, his utter conviction that he knows what’s best for people better than they do themselves, the fact that we have no idea what his name is, the fact that most of his furthest flashbacks are set in Japan and China have lead me to headcanon Raas as not being Arab. Actually, I headcanon him as being white, and no one has the guts to call him out on it, although in at least one continuity his father is from China. Either way, I don’t think Raas is Arab. He chooses the Arabian peninsula as one of his bases for the same reason traders did - it’s a gateway between Asia, Africa and Europe. His disciples are primarily locals, and it’s them that give him the Arab title, which he likes enough to adopt. (In favour of this is the fact that none of his children have Arab names - Nyssa has an Arabic meaning, but it seems unlikely he’d call his daughter ‘Woman’. Talia is Greek, Nyssa may well be as well, and Dusan is Slavic). Talia’s mother is a local - Melisande is a French name, but it was also the name of a queen of Jerusalem in the 10th century, and I think it’s likely that that is what the writers were referring to when they named her. Alternatively, it may be an assumed name. Either way, Talia is ethnically half Arab, but the Arabian peninsula is her home in a way it isn’t ever really shown to be for Raas. The Cradle (located in the UAE) is her primary base of operations, and I write her with the assumption that Arabic is her mother-tongue. Damian is therefore ethnically a quarter Arab, although culturally it’s much more significant since he spent most of his childhood in the UAE talking to and working with Arabs, and it was the language his mother spoke to him most. He was raised to be totally multi-lingual, but Arabic will always be the language he has the greatest attachment too.

[itispossibleihaveissues]

Another Perfect Catastrophe -1

AUTHOR: Mikimoo PAIRING: JayDick RATING: Mature

WARNINGS: Non Consensual drug use, Non Consensual touching, Non Consensual kissing, humour, slight mayhem

SUMMARY: Dick goes undercover as himself in order to catch a gang of international thieves. Jason reluctantly tags along as his long suffering bodyguard. During the ensuing mayhem they get to know each other again and build a few bridges.

Thank you to burkesl17 for the beta!

Notes: An embarrassingly long time ago, the amazing and very, very talented Pentapus invited me to do a reverse bang style exchange, and drew me an amazing prompt. I have no idea how this story was the one that emerged from the many options I had, but such is the creative process I guess! Anyhoo, many thanks to Pentapus for both encouragement and patience, and of course the incredible art! (which will be included at the end of the appropriate chapter)

GO HERE FOR THE AMAZING ART BY THE AWESOME PENTAPUS! 

This was a cluster-fuck. An epic, tragic, mess of ridiculous proportions. It was the sort of thing that only seemed to happen to Jason.

“Gosh, your eyes are pretty,” Dick said, as Jason dragged him bodily towards where he thought the entrance to the wine cellar was. According to the blueprints and the literature he had read on the house and estate, there was an old smugglers tunnel that led to the coast and freedom. He was just fervently hoping it was still accessible.

“Were they always that color?” Dick slurred, petting the button on Jason's cuff and staring blearily at his ear.

“Come on, you drugged up moron,” Jason growled. He was looking forward to giving Dick a hard time about this later, but right now he was a real pain in the ass. Jason spotted the cellar door, and hauled Dick towards it. They had enough of a lead, they could do this and get away before the hired goons caught up to them. He propped Dick against the wall, ignoring the way the fool slid down to the floor with a whoosh of breath.

The hatch was held shut with a rusty padlock and it clearly hadn't been used in some time. Hopefully his picks would make short work of it. If they could open it, they could leave less of a trail than if he had to break it off. Unfortunately Jason just wasn't that lucky, he never fucking was.

“Come on, come on,” he chanted under his breath, as his picks caught the inner workings of the lock but wouldn't budge. “Come on,” he grunted, and with a particularly hard tug it finally gave and the padlock sprang open.

“Come on, come on, turn your radio on!” Dick sang at the top of his lungs and wildly out of tune.

So much for gaining time by being sneaky. At least the sound had bounced around the wide courtyard. Jason yanked Dick to his feet and bundled him into the open hatch. His feeling of relief was short lived though, when he felt a sudden impact in his neck. He pulled free the small dart and stared at it.

“Fuck.”

 This had all been Bruce's fault.

The mission had been a simple one, be bait for a gang of very ambitious thieves praying on the stupidly rich. They operated in Europe as well as the US, and their last sting had hit members of the Gotham elite. Normally Jason wouldn't bother with offering an assist getting justice for a bunch of super rich crooks and morons. But there was a sexual and sadistic element to the hits that put them on Jason's shit list. Their victims were both male and female, and the violence often extended to younger family members. Drugs were the method used to extract bank details and subdue the targets, so the assaults were just for 'fun' rather than a tactic to gain anything.

Jason hadn't been planning to go after them, as he was aware Batman was looking into it. But when Bruce contacted him and demanded he lend his aid in that no-nonsense tone that was his version of asking for a favor, Jason went, despite his knee jerk reaction to tell the Bat to fuck off. He could admit he was curious - why would B be asking for his help?

 Turned out it wasn't just him. Jason had been unimpressed to find Dick there already, and Dick had displayed an equal lack of enthusiasm. Apparently Bruce hadn't bothered to share his plan with his Golden Boy either. He had also failed to mention to Jason that he was injured; one leg was immobilized by a hi-tech cast and there were bruises and burns on his face. Some hair on the back of his head was singed off to the scalp.

The sight caused all sorts of bad feelings to swim in Jason's gut – how close had he come this time? Bruce was ridiculously good at what he did, but it only took one lucky shot. What would they do when the day came when he didn't dodge fast enough? Why did Jason even care?

“We've figured out they're going to hit London next,” Bruce said, without preamble. “I was planning on going with Damian, but the events of the last week mean that Dick has to go in my stead.”

“So he and the spawn are off to Europe? Why do you need me?” Jason asked.

Dick scowled at him with real anger behind his expression, “Damian got hurt too, he can't go on a trip when he looks like he spent time in a meat grinder, because he was blown up.” That last was growled at Bruce, and Jason realized Dick wasn't actually mad at him at all, he was upset about whatever had happened with the previous case. Bruce ignored Dick's tone, words and expression with the ease of someone who did it all the time, and went back to bringing up mission info on the computer.

“I ask again, why am I here?” Jason said into the frigid silence.

“Nightwing needs backup, and Richard needs a bodyguard.”

“I don't.”

“Don't be difficult for the sake of it, Dick, we don't have time. Richard Grayson wouldn't be without one, not after all the kidnap attempts.”

It was disconcerting to hear Bruce talk about Dick in three separate parts, perhaps it really was just that easy for Bruce to be different people when the situation called for it. Jason knew it was next to impossible for him to be like that, and he suspected it wasn't easy for Dick either.

Dick stalked a little closer, coiled violence in his movements and tension practically coming off him in waves. “There are lots of options for that role, at the very least you could have let me choose for myself.”

“So, I'm just useful as big, dumb muscle, is that it?” Jason demanded. He hated that this kind of crap was the only thing Bruce ever wanted from him, but in some small part of his heart he still got an annoying but persistent thrill when the old man asked him for help in that angry, blunt and almost stilted way he had. It was the sad and pathetic remnants of his past hero worship. “And I don't even get the courtesy of being asked nicely? Fuck you both.” He hoped that didn't sound as petty or hurt to them as it did to his own ears. But it wasn't like he didn't have his own shit to deal with; this was a waste of his time.

He was surprised when Dick caught up to him as he re-entered the house, he had expected them to be punching each other’s lights out by now.

“Jason, wait.”

“Not interested.”

“Bruce is an ass, I wish he hadn't sprung this on us.” Dick reached out and lay his warm fingers on Jason's wrist, then withdrew his hand when Jason scowled at them. “And him being a control freak was no excuse for me being a shit to you about it.” That statement looked like it had been hard to say, admitting to being a douchebag wasn't easy for anyone it seemed.

“Fine, apology accepted. But I have shit to do, Dick.”

“He's an ass, but, annoyingly, he's also right,” Dick said, with a slightly sour twist to his lips.

“How?”

“I will need back up, and a bodyguard, for show.” He shrugged. “I already have some ideas for the first part of the operation, but I’ll probably need some help planning the rest.”

“You never need help planning,” Jason said, failing to keep the scorn from his voice. “What's your angle?”

“Just a feeling, a hunch maybe? Or perhaps I'm still rattled by last week. We nearly lost Damian and Bruce at once, I don't feel up to taking chances, you know?”

Jason grunted. He was going to regret saying yes, but not as much as if he said no and something happened he could have prevented. And if he was being honest, it was gratifying to hear Dick admit he wanted help, whether he needed it or not. “Fine, when and where?”

“Here, two days. We'll fly to London and try and get this wrapped up. Thanks, Jay.” He grinned a bright smile up at Jason, and Jason felt the first stirring of real trepidation.

 “No,” Dick said when Jason arrived at the manor to pick him up and drive him to the airport.

Jason squashed the urge to say 'yes', just to be contrary and instead ground his teeth together and waited for Dick to elaborate. It didn't help that Dick literally looked like a million dollars. Instead of the usual shaggy mess, he was sporting what Jason suspected was a $600 haircut, it changed his appearance slightly, added a touch of arrogance and artifice to his natural good looks. He was also wearing vastly overpriced designer jeans and a tight polo in baby pink. Jason sort of wanted to smack him for the price tag on the pants alone.

Dick gestured at Jason's suit. “This isn't what I want.”

“Oh?” Jason ground out, “You had something else in mind for me? Don't want to be seen with underdressed help?” It was a decent suit, one he had had fitted for those occasions where he had to dress up. It wasn't Bruce level good, but it wasn't from Walmart either.

“Quite the contrary. We have to make a splash, get noticed be scandalous!” He beckoned Jason further inside, and when he dragged his heels slightly, Dick grabbed hold of his sleeve and tugged him into the bowels of the house, dislodging a cufflink in the process.

“Dammit, Dick. Stop manhandling me!”

“Sorry, but we have a flight to catch.”

Jason's eyes rolled before he could stop them. “Like they wouldn't wait for you, rich boy.”

Dick grinned at him, the expression was challenging rather than friendly. “I'm not well known in London. The people there who know Bruce don't visit the right circles, they're more old money, while we need young, stupid and filthy rich.” He paused to usher Jason into the study, the one Bruce had for show, rather than use. “We need to get the right kind of attention, fast. That means we gotta be a little outrageous. That and throw around cash like it’s going out of style.”

He gave Jason another one of those challenging, sharp smiles, and pointed a perfectly manicured finger at a pile of clothes draped haphazardly over the nineteenth century chaise lounge. “Wear that.”

Jason wanted to object on principle, but he supposed he should have a look first; his only concession to avoiding a fist fight before they even got out of the country.

He poked through the clothes curiously. The outfit Dick had picked out for him was like a less beat up, more designer version of his normal wear. The leather jacket was a thing of beauty; it smelled like money and class, but it looked like something he might choose for himself. “Why this?” he asked, not willing to show his complete bemusement.

“Two reasons, both practical,” Dick said, leaning his butt against Bruce's hand carved desk. “Get changed and I'll explain my thinking.”

Jason wasn't necessarily shy about shucking his pants in front of folks, he grew up having to hit the showers with the goddamn Justice League after all. (And let it be said that seeing Superman in the buff was not what a gangly, half grown teenager needed for his wobbly self-esteem.) But there was still something that made him profoundly uncomfortable about stripping down in front of Dick.

He wasn't going to let that show, though, and instead he casually removed his suit jacket and dropped his slacks. Dick didn't seem to be paying any attention, so Jason relaxed slightly as he pulled on the pants Dick had provided. “And?” he prompted starting on his button up.

“Two very practical reasons” Dick repeated. “Number one, while I'm playing nice with the socialites it makes sense for you to do some sneaking, and for that it would be best if you had your gear. If people are used to you kitted out in this get up, it won't look so suspicious if they catch you lurking around wearing leather.”

“Uh huh,” Jason agreed, he was having some significant trouble pulling on the t-shirt Dick had provided. “I think this is the wrong size, Dickhead,” he said, tugging the hem over his abs. He could feel the material pull at the shoulders, but it didn't feel like it would restrict movement too much.

“That brings us to reason number two,” Dick said brightly as a predatory grin grew on his face. “To get the sort of attention we need, we have to stand out. My bodyguard needs to be sexy as well as scary. People should make terrible assumptions.” He stalked towards Jason who had the sudden urge to back up. Dick whipped out a comb from somewhere in his sinfully tight jeans and attacked Jason's hair without further warning.

“Oi!”

“Hold still, Jason!”

“I draw the line at you fucking with my hair, Dick!” Jason batted him away. “You can dress me like a damn doll if it pleases you, but the hair is sacrosanct!”

Dick looked like he was going to lunge at him again, but then he seemed to think better of it. “Fine,” he said, shaking his own hair out of his eyes. “You look the part, that's good enough for me.”

“Oh thanks so much, Dick, I'm so very flattered,” Jason grumbled as they headed for the car. It turned out Dick had also packed a spare suitcase for him, no doubt filled with obscenely tight T-shirts and overpriced pants. But after some internal debate he decided not to argue the point. Dick was clearly in a bossy mood and Jason would save the fighting for when it mattered.

Or when it was most obnoxious, he wasn't above being petty.

[aion-rsa]

The Legacy of Batman: Tom King, Kevin Conroy, and Scott Snyder on the Dark Knight

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This year, we talked to Tom King, Kevin Conroy, Bruce Timm, Scott Snyder, Jock, and Pete Tomasi about why Batman still matters.

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It all began with two shots in the dark, pearls spilling onto the blood-soaked cement. No, it all started when the bat crashed through the window. Actually, it was when the boy fell into the cave. Maybe it was that hostile takeover at Apex Chemicals? Dozens of stories have shaped the legend of the Batman over his 80-year history, tales that have made the Caped Crusader arguably the most iconic character in comic book history, rivaled only by Superman.

When Bill Finger and Bob Kane put pen and pencil to paper for 1939's Detective Comics #27, they had no way of knowing that they were creating a new American myth that would captivate readers and movie audiences for decades to come. They certainly didn't expect their first Batman adventure, "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate," to spawn 973 more issues of Detective Comics, let alone become a blockbuster franchise featuring movies, TV series, video games, and McDonald's Happy Meals. 

But what bigger testament to the long-lasting appeal of Batman than March’s Detective Comics #1000, written and drawn by some of the best creators in the business? The giant-sized, 96-page issue featured stories by legends such as as Dennis O'Neil, Neal Adams, Steve Epting, Christopher Priest, Jim Lee, Kelley Jones, Paul Dini, Brian Michael Bendis, Warren Ellis, and Geoff Johns as well as the current custodians of the Bat-mythos -- Tom King, Tony S. Daniel, Peter J. Tomasi, Doug Mahnke, Joelle Jones, Scott Snyder, and Greg Capullo. And that's not even including the excellent covers by Jim Steranko, Bernie Wrightson, Bruce Timm, Frank Miller, Jock, Tim Sale, and more. 

Batman is only the second DC superhero to reach such a massive milestone, the other being the Man of Steel. What is it about this character hellbent on avenging the death of his parents night after night that has kept him at the forefront of our pop culture?

“I think what makes him deeply enduring is that it’s a really primal folk tale,” Scott Snyder, who’s been writing Batman stories since 2011, says. “It’s a story about a boy who loses everything and turns that loss into fuel to make sure that what happened to him never happens to anybody else.”

While most of us aren't billionaire playboys with the resources to fight crime on a global (and sometimes cosmic) level, we understand pain, both emotional and physical, and a need to rise above it, even if we can't always do that. We sympathize with Bruce's biggest regret -- if only he hadn't made his parents take him to see that Zorro movie; if only he hadn't been frightened by the opera; if only he'd been braver and faster as the thug pulled the trigger. For Bruce, his crusade to stop evildoers comes down to replaying that single fateful moment over and over again and making possible a different outcome.

Yet, Batman perseveres despite all of this pain, which is why people flock to the character, according to Snyder. 

"It's a story of triumph over your worst fears, worst tragedy, and about taking your loss and turning it into a win," the writer says. "There's just this kind of power to him that speaks to our own potential, the human potential, even when we're challenged by things that seem insurmountably horrible." 

Snyder has spent the better part of a decade showcasing Batman as a symbol of hope for the citizens of Gotham, putting him through the ringer, reopening old wounds while also making new ones -- the writer even killed the hero off at one point -- just so that he can pick himself up again and keep fighting. 

But the character isn't driven solely by tragedy. Who could hang with a downer like that for 80 years? 

"There are the fun elements, of course, that are similar to James Bond, like the gadgets, and the cars, and the planes, and just the cool factor of his costume."

Tom King, who recently wrapped up an 85-issue run on Batman and currently has a Batman/Catwoman miniseries in the works, looks back to the character's real-life point of origin as the reason he has stood the test of time.

"You have to go back to the moment of creation with him. You've got [Bob Kane and Bill Finger], the children of immigrants, so we're like, what, 1938, '39, we're in Manhattan. And at that time, I mean, go back and look at the pictures, Batman was created like 20 blocks from Madison Square Garden where they had a Nazi rally that attracted a hundred thousand people. They were marching in the streets."

These tumultuous times shaped the fabric of Batman, according to King.

"[Kane and Finger] were living here and their literal cousins and grandparents were getting killed in Europe, right? And they created something uniquely American. Batman succeeds because there's something genuinely beautifully American about it."

According to Batman: The Animated Series voice actor Kevin Conroy, Batman’s continued popularity goes back to something primal. To the classically trained actor who was immortalized as the voice of Batman in the ‘90s cartoon, the Caped Crusader is a modern retelling of myths and stories humans have been passing down for thousands of years.

“He’s such a theatrical character,” Conroy says, admitting he was at first hesitant to audition for the role. At the time, he was a theater actor who'd never done an animated role. But when he read the script, the character clicked. Conroy recognized this story. “They were absolutely right to cast a theater actor, especially one with a classical background, because this is Shakespeare. They’re doing high drama. Batman is Achilles. He’s Orestes. He’s Hamlet.”

The tragic Greek character Orestes, in particular, was on Conroy’s mind when playing Batman. By that point, he’d performed several plays as Orestes, a son who avenges his father’s murder and goes mad because of it. By the end of the story, Orestes has gone through hell and back because of his thirst for vengeance. Naturally, Conroy brought that familiarity with Orestes to his portrayal of Batman.

“He’s a Homeric hero,” Conroy says of the Caped Crusader. “I think of it often when I’m doing Batman because Orestes is haunted by the Furies. He descends into hell. He comes back. He’s resurrected at the end, and I think so often, this is a very Orestial-like journey that Bruce Wayne goes on. His Furies are the memory of his parents’ murder. It haunts him through his life. It’s transformed him."

Conroy calls Batman a “classic character.” Like Orestes before him, Batman has become the protagonist of our very own mythology.

“He’s come out of such a fire and instead of letting life crush him, he turns that metamorphosis into something even greater than himself,” Conroy says. “They’ve been telling that story for thousands of years in different cultures, and this is our culture’s way of telling those stories, and I think they’re just as valid.”

Bruce Timm, who co-created Batman: The Animated Series and designed the show's iconic Art Deco aesthetic, is unsurprisingly most taken by Batman's look. 

"I just think Batman looks great," Timm says during our chat at NYCC in 2018. "He's got the best costume motif in comics. Nothing comes close. He's dark, sexy, and broody. It's really intoxicating and compelling in a way that almost no other in comics can come close to it."

He also admires the durability of the character through the different eras of comics, from the Golden Age, to the sillier '50s and '60s stories of the Comics Code era, to the darker takes we're more accustomed to today. 

"It is amazing to me how flexible he is as a character. That you could have something as silly as the Adam West show or the old '50s comics, and then you have stuff like Neal Adams and Frank Miller and what we did. And you know, even more extreme, [Grant Morrison and Dave McKean's graphic novel] Arkham Asylum and things like that. And yet their all kind of the same character. It's like that character can encompass all of those different things. He can do space aliens and serial killers, you know? Yet, it kind of works."

This flexibility has allowed plenty of writers and artists to experiment with the Dark Knight, creating different versions of the character over the years. There really isn't a definitive take on Batman. You can love the Batusi, Bat-Mite, or Mr. Freeze's cool party and still be right on the money about the Caped Crusader. You'd be remiss to call the character stale. The guy has done it all.

"It's almost like he's a force of nature, in which stories can happen around him, and there's something primordial, maybe, about the character and the way he looks, as well," says veteran Batman artist Jock, who most recently worked on a seven-part miniseries with Snyder called The Batman Who Laughs. "You could put Batman in a new pose, and he'd still flourish, and I think those kinds of characters are very rare."

Peter J. Tomasi, who is currently writing Detective Comics, puts it best:

"He's a character who can work across all genres. Somehow, someway, he can simply fit into every story, be it a war story, a western, a love story, a comedic angle, sci-fi, horror, fantasy, you name it, and of course any detective story you can possibly imagine."

Superheroes won't always be at the top of our pop culture food chain. It's inevitable that many of the characters we love today will fade with future generations, just as the Shadow, Doc Savage, Zorro, and the Scarlet Pimpernel did. Will we still be talking about Batman in another 80 years? We may eventually embrace new forms of familiar myths, becoming obsessed with new idols. But only a fool would bet against a character who's survived as long as Batman has. Remember, the Batman always wins.

John Saavedra is an associate editor at Den of Geek. Read more of his work here. Follow him on Twitter @johnsjr9 and make sure to check him out on Twitch.

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[asagimeta]

I'm so glad that there are some people who understand that killing Delphine was shitty but also still appreciate the fact that this movie is fucking /huge/for the genre. I really loved it (seen it three times now) and it's such a relief to see someone post about the movie without it making me feel bad for liking it so much! plus, a f/f relationship on screen that featured nice soft moments between the two in a movie like this? never would I have thought this would exist a few years ago.

Thank you so much @akaroot ! I’m so happy that I’m getting support for that post

I never would have guessed it either, I’m always surprised to see soft lesbian related moments in media because the majority of lesbian related media (in mainstream) has always been oversexualized and fetishized, and the spy genre in general oversexualizes and fetishizes women (look no further than Bond himself, *Pussy Galore* are you KIDDING me?) so you have Bad on top of Bad and somehow it’s actually a very soft, sweet relationship, I had worried from the trailers that it would be treated less as a bisexual woman being bisexual and more as *~Experimenting for porno purposes~* and it wasn’t like that at all

The spy genre is one of the most classicly White Straight Cis Hyper-Masculine Male genres you can imagine and you have a movie here that has a bisexual woman who is neither hyper-masculine nor hyper-feminine, she isn’t a stereotype, she isn’t a trope, she doesn’t lean disproprionately to one side of the gender norm spectrum, and what’s even more incredible is it was set in the EIGHTIES!

I’ve noticed people who like to do “period peices” (I mean I don’t think the 80s really counts but you know what I mean) like to use the time period as an excuse to not include diversity, I’ve heard “Um black people weren’t in Europe at that point in history… how would we have added black charectors? :\ ” and “If you were gay back then you sure as hell couldn’t express it openly so this scene and that relationship wouldn’t work :\ ” and ugh, the only time they use diversity in non-modern movies is to make it *~a tragic story about how unaccepting those times were ~* and Atomic Blonde was neither, Lorraine being unapologetically bisexual, openly bisexual, bluntly bisexual, set in the 80s, is a big deal it’s self

But back to the point, I think the spy genre is probably one of the least progressive film genres in terms of staying the same as well as being diverse, Bond, Mission Impossible, Jack Ryan, American Assassin*, even Taken wich isn’t technically a *spy* film, it’s all virtually the same and the only real formulistic difference in terms of how women are treated is “Does the man in question womanize, or have a Twu Luv who gets kidnapped and/or murdered?”

I want so badly for Atomic Blonde to do well- really, REALLY well- so we’ll get a franchise just like we’ve gotten of every other spy movie that rolls around, and so that spy movies can start to branch out like other genres, Wonder Woman was the revolution for superhero movies- I think Gotham City Sirens and Black Panther will be revolutions too- Atomic Blonde can be for the spy genre

*I know I keep using poor American Assassin as my anti-Blonde example but it’s only because it’s the other spy movie that’s being talked about right now and coming out in a few months, I’m really excited for American Assassin and look forward to seeing it

[heyesc]

Headcanon drafts' clearing day

A snippet on the timelessness of Gotham, Oswald's childhood and Gertrude

There's Oswald, whose youth was obviously spent during a decade where the gothic style was still considered both romantic and cool unironically. (As a sidenote, I haven't checked the ages of the creators behind the show, but I have a suspicion late eighties to mid-nineties where an influencing era.)

Then there's Gertrude Kappelput, of course, who represents the type of Old European emigree that doesn't really exist anymore*. Her air of lost status and noble background creates an impression of someone who escaped reprecussions such revolutions, political re-bordening of states etc. This makes it quite amusing when considering Gertrude's past from the current point of time: even when we set her age to quite late when giving birth to Oswald and consider Gotham as existing somewhere between the late 1980's to 1990's, it would still place Gertrude's youth into a period of relative stability and prosperity in Europe, even in most of the Generic Eastern European States. Which leads to a pet headcanon of mine: Gertrude Kappelput, student of ___ (generic Eastern European capital) Polytechnical Institute, escaping the dull utilitarian atmosphere of her country, chasing after the dreams created out of the snippets of old Hollywood movies and Tolstoy novels. She adopts her romantic image in part to realise her dreams, in part to honour the pre-Communism traditions of her home country in part because that's what Gotham, the town of archaic protocol, expects of her.

______________________________________

*(The same thing that always makes me giggle about the interpretations of (NBC's) Hannibal's childhood in Lithuania. Hannibal of the aristocratic tragic childhood in Lithuania... Oh yeah? The aristocratic Soviet apartment block of 50 square-meter flats shared by three generations of the family?)

[woods2006gal]

Chapter 02 - Here With Me

Austin Wells rarely made his way to Smallville. He preferred to spend his time in Metropolis. It was his home. His city. The only reason he had to make the trip to Smallville was because his best friend and former love, Max Carmichael. Austin had met Max in their freshman year at Harvard. Two peas in a pod, yet from vastly different worlds. Max from the upper echelons of money and social class while Austin was the bottom. An alcoholic father and emotionally abusive mother, Austin had managed to earn a full ride to Harvard. 

It was at a welcome party for the freshman class where Austin had met Max. He had been enamored by the hotel heir and it hadn’t taken long for Austin to fall in love with him. Max had been just as enamored with Austin and they had quickly formed a deep friendship that had blossomed into a romantic relationship. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to move to Star City,” Max softly asks. Their apartment had been packed up and loaded into a moving truck that was headed to Metropolis. Graduation had come and gone, with the power couple ranking at the top of their law class.

Austin sighs. “My mother needs me,” he whispers. Family loyalty was something he hated and loved at the same time. 

Max smiles. He understood where Austin was coming him. They both knew this day was coming. He tightly embraces his boyfriend. “If you ever need anything, just call. I mean it, Austin. No matter what, you will always be my best friend.”

Austin runs a hand through his dirty blonde hair as he pulls up to the Luthor Mansion. His first visit with Nell Potter had been pleasant. The woman had been shocked to learn that Zoey was Max’s niece. He had been the one who helped Max come up with the story about Zoey attending boarding school in Europe. The whole world had seen the most tragic time for a family. Zoey sitting alone in the hospital waiting room with a small cut on her face had been on the front of page of every single news publication. The only image that had pushed it to back of the public’s mind was a year later when Bruce Wayne was pictured sitting in the Gotham police station after his parents’ brutal murder.

Austin shakes his head as he walks into his small studio apartment. “Max, there’s a dozen law firms in this city that would love to have your business,” he says. He had been surprised when his ex-boyfriend had showed up on his doorstep that morning. “Why me?”

“Because I trust you,” Max says. He runs a hand through his jet black hair. “Because Zoey trusts you.”

Austin sighs. “My boss is gonna love this. A second year associate brings in the biggest client in the city. Hell, not just the city but the state. Fuck, Max. Are you sure about this?”

“I am. Zoey trusts you, Austin. She’s doing fine now, but...” Max trails off.

“You’re worried that she’s gonna have a wild and crazy phase during her teenage years,” Austin finishes, with a soft smile. “From what I remember of Zoey, I don’t think she’ll run off and marry a drummer of a one hit wonder band.”

Max chuckles. His sister, Shannon, had done that when she was eighteen. “Yeah, I don’t think Zoey would do that. She’s ambitious. I think she would act more in line with what I did and what my father did.”

Austin smiles. “You think Zoey would start a company? In Smallville?”

Max shrugs. “Zoey’s ambitious.”

Max had been right about Zoey. She was ambitious. The youngest member of the Carmichael family was incredibly driven in school. She had gotten straight A’s since elementary school. In eighth grade, she was elected treasurer for student council. When Zoey had called him about being a partner in a coffee shop slash theater that was being renovated, Austin wasn’t surprised. The only thing he had been surprised about was that Lex Luthor was involved.

“I was surprised when I got a call from your office,” Lex greets when Austin walks into the mansion’s library.

“I’m here on the behalf of a client,” Austin replies, sitting down in one of the arm chairs in front Lex’s desk.

Lex frowns. Now it was his turn to be confused. And he didn't like to be confused. "I think you're mistaken, Mr. Wells. I would know if I was doing business with one of your clients.” Austin smirks. People rarely got the upper hand when it came to the Luthors. He pulls out the contract and places it in front of Lex. He watches as the younger man picks up the contract and reads over it. “I hate to break it to you, but I’m not in business with whoever Zoey York is. The only Zoey that I know of is Zoey Kent.”

Austin chuckles. “The Kents are Zoey’s godparents. Her last name is York. And her parents are Shannon Carmichael and Matthew York.”

Lex mentally curses himself. He had never paid much attention to the young blonde. He was more intrigued by Clark, given how they had met. The number of times he had interacted with Zoey was something he could count on one hand. 

“Zoey’s good at blending in,” Austin says. He motions to the contract. “That essentially protects everyone involved in this business venture. You each get an equal share.”

“What you mean is that this contract protects Zoey.”

“She is my client, Lex. But it protects everyone. Zoey insisted on it.”

Lex picks up a pen and signs the contract. It was out of character for him to sign a contract without having his lawyers pick through every detail. But given what he knew about Clark and the Kents, he was sure that Zoey was an honest person.

~*~

Austin stares at the window of the Metropolis skyline. Ever since Max had asked him to be Zoey’s attorney and to keep an eye on her when he couldn’t do it himself, Austin had quickly moved up in his law firm. His boss had been excited when he brought on Zoey as a client and had even tried to poach the young heiress, but Max had put a stop to that. After that, rich clients in the city had signed up with him so fast he was given his own office and a pay raise, something that didn’t endear him to the other second year associates.

Austin takes a sip of his whiskey. “Austin, I wasn’t expecting you,” Max greets over the phone.

“I thought you should know that Zoey is exactly how you predicted she would be,” Austin tells his former lover.

Max sighs. “I knew it would only be a matter of time.”

“She’s part owner of a new coffee shop slash bookstore in Smallville.”

“Who are the other owners?”

“Lana Lang, a girl Zoey goes to school with. And Lex Luthor.”

“What the fuck does Lex Luther have to do with Smallville?”

“Lionel Luthor made him head of the a fertilizer plant in town. Apparently, Lex is friends with Clark Kent.”

Max laughs. “So, Lex is in charge of a shit factory and somehow Zoey got him to be a partner in a cafe?”

“She’s ambitious.”

~*~

“So, who did you get in our class biography paper,” Zoey asks, sitting down next to Mike. She notices Shane and a few other football players watching them. Zoey rolls her eyes and turns to Mike. “I got you. So, it’ll be an easy A. We’ll just hang out and then I’ll write the paper later.” She notices the upset look on Mike’s face. “Is everything okay, Mike?”

“My mom got arrested last night,” Mike softly says. “She had two ounces of meth on her. So, she’ll be going to prison for a long time. My dad is driving out from Wichita today. I’m moving. This weekend.”  

Zoey grabs his hand. “Is there anything I can do?”

Mike shakes his head. “No.” He holds out a piece of paper. “I got Pete Ross.”

Zoey grabs his paper and hands him her wrinkled up piece of paper. “There. Now, you have to write a paper on yourself.”

Mike lays his head on Zoey’s shoulder. “I hate packing.”

“Everyone hates packing. You just pick the things that are most important to you and that you absolutely need.” Zoey glances at her watch and sighs. “I need to go to the Talon. Do you want to come and see how Lana is doing with the contractors?”

Mike sits up and stares at his best friend. “I still can’t believe you’re going into business with Lana Lang. I mean, I can understand Lex, but I don’t get Lana.”

Zoey smiles as she stands up. “Believe me, I still can’t believe it either.”

~*~

Zoey and Mike walk up to the Talon where Clark and Lana were talking. Zoey and Mike had spent most of the afternoon packing up his mom’s house and getting his stuff ready for when his dad arrived from Wichita. “Lex,” Lana greets. Zoey and Mike turn to see Lex walking towards them on Main Street. “What are you doing here?”

“Contractor called, said he had an estimate. Wanted me to meet him here,” Lex replies. Zoey opens the door and the group walks into find a man sprawled out on the floor. “What the hell?”

Mike walks over to the man and kneels down next to him. “Sir, are you okay?”

The contractor groans. “Yeah,” he answers, as Mike helps him sit up. “I - I came in the back door and some guy jumped me and forced me to let him in, then bashed me over the head.”

“Did you see his face,” Clark questions.

“No.”

Zoey notices a box sitting on the counter. She walks over to it and opens it up to reveal a hand sitting inside. “Whoa.”

“That wasn’t there when I locked up,” Lana informs them. “I’ll go call the police.”

Zoey finds a name tag on the box’s lid. She turn to Lex and shows him the box lid. “Who the fuck did you piss off?” Mike glances in the box and frowns. He starts to reach into the box, but Zoey grabs his wrist. “Dude, don’t contaminate the crime scene.”

“There’s no blood,” Mike points out. “Cleanly severed. This was done post mortem. And there’s a pinkie ring.”

Zoey turns to Lex. “Know any one who wears a pinkie ring?”

Lex runs a hand over his face. “Zero consequences,” he mutters before walking around.

Mike leans close to Zoey. “Now, I’m even more upset that I’m moving. We got some interesting stuff going on around here now.”

~*~

Zoey looks up from her science textbook when she hears a buzzing. Her Blackberry was vibrating across her desk. Seeing the number on the screen, Zoey glances down the hallway before closing her bedroom door. She grabs her phone. “Ollie, I’m fine,” she says, not giving the caller a chance to greet her.

“Zo, you can not be going into business with Lex Luthor,” Oliver Queen tells her. Oliver was her oldest friend. She had known him her entire life. After his parents died in a plane crash, Oliver had lived with Zoey and her parents for a few years until her own parents died in a car accident after being hit by a drunk driver.

“Ollie, I’m not a little girl anymore,” Zoey argues. “I grew up while you were stranded on that island.”

Oliver had vanished three years ago, after taking his family’s yacht on a high school graduation trip. It was only the previous summer that he had been rescued from the island. 

Zoey bites her lip as she slowly enters the hospital room. It had been nearly three years since she had seen Oliver. She didn’t know what to expect. She wondered if he remembered her or even cared about her. There were various tubes hooked up to her childhood friend. There were scars over his very tanned body. “Hi,” she quietly greets. Her grip on the plastic container of homemade oreos tightens.

Oliver smiles. “You know, Zo, I’m not going to bite.”

She lets out a relived breath and makes her way across the room. She sets the container on the nightstand and climbs on the bed to tightly embrace him. Zoey buries her face in his neck. “You’re not allowed to go on a boat ever again. Promise?”

Oliver wraps an arm around her back. “Promise.”

“I missed you.”

Oliver rests a cheek against the top of her head. “I missed you too, Zo.” He pulls back and lightly touches her glasses. “Since when do you wear glasses?”

Zoey rolls her eyes. “Since I have crappy eyesight.”

Oliver sighs. “I know, Zo. I just…I don’t want you to get pulled into something that you shouldn’t be apart of.”

“How did you find out in the first place?”

“Max was bragging about you following in the Carmichael footsteps at a dinner party.”

“Since when do you go to dinner parties?”

“Max insisted that I go. Said it was a good way to reintroduce me to Star City’s social scene. And that I needed to stop hiding in my house all day.”

Zoey bites her lip. “Are you going to the Wayne Foundation gala?”

“No way would I be caught there. Besides for being a teenage billionaire, Bruce is way to dark and brooding. Kid needs to lighten up.”

Zoey rolls her eyes. “I think after everything that Bruce has been through, he’s allowed to be a little dark and brooding.”

“He still needs to light up a little.”

~*~

Zoey walks through the crowd at the grand opening of the Talon. She finds Mike sitting in a corner with an unhappy look on his face. She takes a seat next to him, before glancing around to see if anyone was watching them. She pulls out a flask and pours some whiskey into the two coffee cups she had brought to the table. She hands Mike one. “I grabbed some of my uncle’s top shelf whiskey over the summer,” she whispers.

Mike takes a sip and coughs. “That is really good,” he tells her. “Way better than the stuff we’d sneak from my mom’s stash.”

“I think anything is better than your mom’s stash.”

“True.”

“My dad’s coming down in the morning with a moving truck. He has everything ready for me at his house. Monday, I start at a new school. Being the new kid sucks.”

“It does.”

“I came out to my dad last night. I was hoping that he wouldn’t want me to live with him. He’s very supportive.”

Zoey grabs his hand. “Mike, so many people would kill to have such a supportive dad. He just wants what’s best for you.”

“What’s best is for me to stay here.” Mike shakes his head and finishes his coffee in a couple of gulps. He stands up. “I’m gonna head home. I’ll see you…well, I don’t know when I’ll see you again, Zoey. Bye.”

Zoey watches as Mike walks out of the Talon. She finishes her coffee and observes the happy people in the Talon. A buzzing comes from her pocket and she pulls out her Blackberry. “Hello,” she answers without glancing at the screen.

“I already talked to Martha and Jonathan about it, but you’re coming with me to the Wayne Foundation Gala,” Max greets. “Get a weekend bag ready because I’ll meet you at the private airport in Metropolis in a few hours.”

Zoey blinks. “Uncle Max, I don’t have anything to wear.”

“We’ll get that taken care of in Gotham.”

Zoey sighs. “What time do I need to be at the airport?”

I won’t leave I can’t hide I cannot be Until you’re resting here with me