#cain complex.

[samdeancrimespree]

the wincest cain complex is so interesting because not only do they switch roles constantly but they are always fighting to be abel. their one selfish act is leaving the other behind. you have to live without me, because i can’t survive it. they are both so painfully desperate to be the one to die. abel presses the knife into cain’s hand and begs his brother to stop him, but cain can’t do it. no matter what abel does, he can never do it. he’s selfish too. his need for abel trumps the needs of the rest of the world.

[brotherscain]

you don’t understand. you know how when we go through loss we sometimes see signs of our lost loved ones (in numbers, in nature, etc.)? but it’s like… dean died—died—and then that was just it. being a hunter for so long means sam knows when a spirit is there, and when a spirit is gone. dean’s absence must have carried its empty weight through the rest of sam’s life. he didn’t get access to that same kind of comfort as the hopeful unknown. i still like to think, though, that maybe sam looked for him anyway. in radio stations, in the mirror, in the stops one makes during road-trips, in his son. dean was gone, but he’d always be everywhere. sob

[aingeal98]

Ok so you know how back in the 2000s there were a few jokes about Cass's gender likely because male comic book writers thought it was funny she had muscles? I'm taking that and spinning it to villains genuinely being confused about what to refer to Cass as.

Goon 1: Cmon man she's obviously called Batgirl

Goon 2: Well last month I told him he wasn't Batman and all he said was "Try me."

Goon 1: Have you heard them speak?

Goon 2: Yep. Pure gravel. You really swear that's definitely a girl's voice?

Goon 1: Has anyone ever gotten a good luck at her?

Goon 2: At Batman's stealthier, faster shadow? Come on Doug.

-

1 week later

Goon 1: Jerry you're not gonna believe this. The little Bat saved me from getting my brains blown out by Penguin.

Goon 2: Oh nice! Glad you're still-

Goon 1: I asked them what their pronouns were.

Goon 2:

Goon 1:... And they said "Bat"

Goon 2: Well that settles that then. Why are you still referring to bat as they? You want bat to beat you up next time bat sees you?

-

1 month later

Cass: At first I was confused why villains I save keep complimenting me on my nonbinary swagger. But after Duke explained what that meant... I think I kind of like it. Babs am I... Nonbinary?

Babs, frantically tossing aside her prepared 10 point acceptance speech for when your daughter realises she's a lesbian and scouring her database in search of parenting guides for nonbinary adult children: Honey, you can be whatever you want to be

[jokey05]

I genuinely think that by some paradox DC was WAY more inclusive and "woke" in the '90 than now. Like so many POC characters, the firsts queer relationship in comics, many more disabled characters and representation than today. Not all of them were written well, mind you, but at least they were doing something instead of just showing up during Pride moth and then disappearing in limbo forever after a couple of cheesy lines. And we are not talking enough of all the disabilities erasure in the last years.

[its-kinda-snowy]

"Dan, are you even paying attention? This is critical research we need to cover in order to (insert science jargon here)"

[franollie]

a big point of contention for steph and cass in Batgirl 2000 is that steph wants to fight and has the potential to be a really good vigilante, but cass feels a need to protect her when theyre on the field together because she knows steph "isn't good enough yet" and she doesn't want to see her get hurt.

and then steph dies. and cass couldn't save her.

post steph's death, we see a shift in cass's behavior. she was always reckless and blindly trusts her ability to punch her way out of things, but i would argue that she becomes more passively suicidal post war games/war crimes.

then, the two times cass almost dies steph is the one who saves her...steph became cass's white knight...like aughhhhhh

[venividifettuccine]

you’re wearing his cardigan. i’ve struck a blood deal with his mob boss father, befriended and invested myself in the romantic life of his little sister, and am tormenting him with slutty 3am texts and sunglasses photos. we are not the same

[puppycharmz]

CAN YA GIVE US ANOTHER MINI COMIC FOR THE POLYCULE THING- I NEED ANSWERS-

putting my major to good use finally. here are your answers *provides none* (part 1 | part 2)

[himejoshiangels]

cass cain is so emotive and I hate that so many of yall fall straight into the stoic asian woman stereotype thing because like, the only reason cass wouldn't vocalize a feeling is when she would struggle to find the word for it because she literally wasn't taught how to speak. that's so fucking upsetting. She has such big beautiful emotions, she feels so deeply about the littlest things but everytime she has trouble putting it into words she's reminded that she was conceived not to. her abuser did not have her feelings or her pain in mind, only how well she could end a life. can you fucking imagine

[remusfinglupin]

The Atlas squad (in actually terrified to finish The Atlas Complex)

🎨: Little Chmura

[everwistfully]

I started watching My Adventures with Superman and I got my little siblings into it. We’ve made a whole routine of getting together and watching the newest episode together (I’m out of the house and in college while everyone else is between middle/high school) but anyways! After the latest episode we were all talking about what we know about the dc universe and stuff (they have no idea how deep I am) and I started talking about the batfam.

They asked and this led to me being able to give the entire story of the Robins.

I got to sit there and give the entire chronological history of each robin and how they came into Batman’s life and whatnot for an entire HOUR! It was amazing! But not even CLOSE to as amazing as watching my little sister react to all the plot twists!

The loudest gasp and most bamboozled look that crossed her face when I told her that the crime lord Red Hood was Jason Todd! (Keep in mind she’s literally 14,) she was so invested! And it was the best time of my life!

She asked me to ‘hold on’ 7 times, ‘go back’ 3 times, and gasped a total of 4 times in this entire retelling. Given, we were all told to ‘lock in’ 3 times so it was quite the ride.

I don’t know what I would give to be able to experience the drama of the batfamily for the first time again…but it was something else to be able to watch firsthand what it was like.

:)

[thenonbinarydetective]

"There is canonical mischaracterization in the batfamily" and "they are nuanced characters that cannot be summed up in one word/phrase" are two things that can exist at the same time and more people need to remember that

[aingeal98]

It's about Bruce not being able to love himself and Cass coming along as the idealized version of what Bruce wishes Batman could be (Not to be confused with Dick as Nightwing which is the idealized version of what Batman could never be) and Bruce being so excited and delighted and willing to pour so much love and trust into Cass and then being hit in the face with the fact that all his own flaws still exist even in this "perfect" mini me, they're just more intense to compensate for the intensity of her heroism. You cannot be Batman without the survivors guilt, without the value of every human life no matter how extreme, without the hours of pushing yourself to ridiculous limits and self harming to make yourself a more effective weapon against evil. And he can either accept these as downsides that must exist for Batman to be perfect or he can try and steer Cass down a healthier path. He has to choose the person or the mission and it's one thing to make that choice for yourself and another thing to enable someone to dehumanize themselves to the same degree. He'd never want anyone else to be like him that's the whole point. But she's already there and she wants it more than anything and she views Batman as salvation instead of a curse so what's the right choice? What can he do to help? Perfect for a year or mediocre for a lifetime?

[belle-keys]

Power is taken. Official character artwork by Little Chmura for The Atlas Complex by Olivie Blake, the final installment in The Atlas trilogy published by TOR Books.

[sveetnemesis]

entirety of the atlas trilogy summed up :