#selina's relationship with the batkids?

[mid-nightowl]

god i have some many thoughts about gotham war, my brain hurts

[mynameisnotlaura]

BRUCE WAYNE IS WHIPPED MORE THAN EXTRA WHIPPED CREAM

LOOK AT HIM. HES SO SCARY WHEN MAD THEN IMMEDIATELY HE CALMS DOWN WHEN SELINA LIKES IT??? HELLOOO THIS BITCH IS WHIPPED😭😭😭

[inamindfarfaraway]

My Excessively Detailed, Heavily Opinionated Catwoman Comics Timeline (Major Spoilers)

Backstory

Selina Kyle is born in the East End in Gotham, in the area’s typical poverty, to Cuban immigrant Maria and Irish American Brian. Maria is a loving and protective parent, if troubled and sometimes emotionally distant. She loves cats and in some stories explicitly keeps several at home, preferring them to humans. Brian is your classic abusive alcoholic archetype with a side of racism - he isn’t confirmed to have physically abused his daughters, but he is verbally aggressive toward them and Maria is shown to make a point to send them away when his anger is peaking. He also regularly mistreats her, including in front of their daughters, and generally has no observable love for his family.

Yes, I said daughters, plural. Selina has a little sister named Maggie. (Their exact age difference is never specified, but it’s probably about two or three years. Maggie is drawn noticeably smaller when they’re kids. In one flashback she has toddler proportions when Selina is clearly older than that. Also, her hair colour oscillates between ginger, light brown and blonde, and her eyes are usually brown, but sometimes blue.) The two are polar opposites. Where Selina’s idealism rapidly degrades, Maggie’s persists; where Selina sharpens her edges and puts up emotional walls, Maggie openly seeks love and validation; where Selina lashes out at the world and looks out for herself, Maggie is kind, selfless and pacifistic. It’s easy to conclude that Maggie gets to be softer because her big sister is growing up too fast for her. Basically, they’re both put through early childhood trauma, and as Maggie puts in in the Relentless storyline, “[they] both survived [it] in entirely different ways” and both “thought [their own] way was right” for years.

Age is still never specified, but Selina is consistently described as ‘just a girl’ when Maria kills herself. The girls find her in the blood-filled bathtub. This moment will be recalled repeatedly, including in full-on traumatic flashbacks, and is agreed to kinda be Selina’s ‘equivalent’ in defining traumatic childhood events to Bruce’s night in Crime Alley.

Selina has been doing gymnastics since she was a little kid, BTW, supported by Maria. It’s said to be all she was still interested in once her mother died.

Brian’s parenting does not improve now he’s a single parent. The time of his death is another thing disagreed upon: in the Kyle sisters-centric Catwoman origin story Her Sister’s Keeper, he dies two months before the plot when both his daughters are adults, the news of which shocks Selina but she doesn’t seem to particularly mourn him for what a great guy he was. However, later tellings quietly retcon this to him dying ‘not long after’ Maria (the constant imprecision is very annoying to me. Give me numbers, dammit!).

Either way, just a few years after Maria’s death, the girls end up orphans and homeless. Selina goes to Sprang Juvenile Hall because Gotham’s social safety net is fantastic, but rather than let Maggie be cast to the winds of chance, before she’s locked up she takes Maggie to a children’s home run by actually good people - nuns - and abandons her there. Why doesn’t she stay and grow up there too? Well, given her intense self-hatred, bad luck and how throughout their interactions she puts Maggie before herself, I read this as her not believing she deserves it and/or believing she’d ruin any happiness she had, and Maggie had with her present, due to her supposed inherent badness. That’s just my interpretation, but I think it makes the most sense. So Maggie has a much healthier, happier and more stable late childhood and adolescence. She becomes a nun herself called Sister Magdeline, in fact. And always feeds the stray cats outside the convent.

Meanwhile, Selina is abused in juvie until she breaks out at thirteen and lives on the streets. Namely Alleytown, a slum between the East End and Old Gotham. She starts her career as a thief and swindler here, in the Alleytown Kids gang run by Mama Fortuna, who lets them stay in her house, nicknamed the Nest, and teaches them to use people’s underestimation of kids against them. Selina takes to crime like a cat to hunting, earning the woman’s respect. She befriends a fellow kid there, Sylvia Sinclair. But Mama Fortuna takes all the kids’ loot for herself and makes them do her chores and dirty work, so Selina and Sylvia run away together.

A pimp named Stan hires Selina as as sex worker. You get three guesses if he’s an abusive bastard; the first two don’t count. Sylvia likewise becomes a sex worker, and when they have their first times at fourteen, Sylvia volunteers to go first. Selina has no idea how to comfort or help her in the wake of this extremely traumatic experience, so she just… doesn’t. Unbeknownst to her, Sylvia holds a grudge over this. They’re pulled apart quickly after that by the chaos of the streets. Years later, Selina fails Sylvia again when she ditches her to get arrested during a diamond heist Sylvia asked for her help with. Sylvia goes to prison.

When Selina’s seventeen, she meets thirteen-year-old homeless girl Holly Robinson (whose hair oscillates between blonde, red and strawberry blonde because again, comic books are as consistent as Greek mythology). Holly’s turned to sex work too after running away from her abusive junkie parents, leaving her older brother behind. She’s at that moment being assaulted by a cop. Selina punches him out and rescues her, taking her under her wing. This is the first time Holly realizes that she doesn’t have to passively accept whatever cruelty life subjects her to, and she becomes Selina’s sidekick and little sister figure. Selina canonically has strong Big Sister Energy.

Comics Timeline

Her Sister’s Keeper. Selina learns martial arts from Wildcat and becomes Catwoman, inspired by the early appearances of Batman, initially to get her revenge on Stan. (Her age is vague, but a cop guesses that she’s sixteen or seventeen and Holly looks like a young teen, so she’s probably in her late teens to early twenties. Except Maggie is a fully fledged nun, and you need to be eighteen for that. Damn comic book chronology. Maybe Selina and Holly look younger than they is because of their chronic childhood malnutrition stunting their growth?) She reunites with Maggie, Stan captures Maggie to hurt her, Selina technically doesn’t murder him but does in spirit, Holly also gets beaten up by a cop, Batman is just trying to do his job and the Batcat ship is born in what else but a fight where she neatly summarizes their stage one relationship with a kiss immediately followed by a scratch. It all escalates into a whole debacle. Selina ultimately comes to three conclusions: 1. she’s gonna be a badass thief now; 2. Batman is hot and they’re into each other, but he’s a little too much like a cop for her to trust him; and 3. she’s willing to take the risks of her lifestyle, but not to let her loved ones get hurt, and so sends Holly to live with Maggie in the convent. That last one is important! Though Selina is habitually selfish in practical terms, she also will always want better for those she loves and has a responsibility/guilt complex about needing to protect them from harm. Her foundational self-concept is to some degree inherently a Bad Person, therefore pushing people away from her is her idea of doing what’s best for them. Almost every time someone she cares about gets hurt by a villain’s own actions or something else beyond her control, she believes it’s her fault! When she cares, she cares so much!

Ahem. I have strong feelings about this character. She has broken into my head and is stealing my time and mental energy.

HSK is Catwoman Volume 1. For a long time after this we’ve got the classic status quo. She’s the best thief in the world. She steals from the rich and gives to herself, mostly, to the point that she becomes a self-made socialite with fabulous outfits. She and Batman have their on-and-off enemies-and-lovers relationship, or alternatively, they speedrun enemies-to-lovers arcs and back again over and over. Sometimes as a socialite she flirts and has flings with Bruce Wayne, who’s nice, but her real love is Batman! (Cut to Bruce and Clark commiserating in a bar that their crushes have dumped them for themselves in a costume.) Occasionally she and Bats dare to dream of something more serious and committed between them, but his strict moral code and her amorality and both their intimacy and trust issues keep getting in the way. Go to therapy, you two. Please.

Volume 2 gives Catwoman her own rogues’ gallery. This includes bitter copycat rival She-Cat, who Selina rejected as a friend when they knew each other as orphan kids and must now deal with as an enemy; the scientist Cyber-Cat who uses shiny feline power armour and gets just a tiny little bit obsessed with the thief who humiliated her despite it; and Hellhound, her former classmate at a martial arts dojo with an ego even greater than his actual skill. Selina’s also presumed dead for a few years at the end because comics. The list of comic book characters who have never been truly, functionally or presumed dead is getting worryingly short…

I will summarize its major events, but before you read any further, I implore you to read Ed Brubaker’s run of Volume 3 (2002) if you have the time. Please. It is the Catwoman run. Brubaker is the best writer the character has ever had and - the abomination that was Selina and Slam being a couple notwithstanding - his writing is overall some of the best DC’s ever had in my opinion. Just read it if you want to know who Selina Kyle is and what she’s about.

I’m serious. I’ll wait.

Okay! Offscreen in the years before Volume 3, Maggie and Holly leave the convent and Gotham and part ways. Maggie fit in great there until an apparent crisis of faith, but Holly never felt like she fully belonged in that world and this feeling of discontentment only worsens. Maggie gets a degree in psychology, falls in love with a good man named Simon and settles into a comfortable life of domestic bliss. Holly in contrast spirals downward, returning to sex work on the streets and doing heroin.

Volume 3 proper starts with the story Catwoman: Anodyne. A series of murders of working girls gives Selina a blast from the past and makes her take a look at herself in her penthouse with her collection of lavish ball gowns and jewels. She realizes that she’s lost sight of her roots of standing up for people like herself and Holly against corruption and abuse. So she reinvents her Catwoman identity to be an antiheroic vigilante actively championing social justice, particularly focused on the East End. Respect. Because as this story’s events remind her, the cops don’t care about the poor and marginalized like sex workers. Private investigator Slam Bradley is her contact in legal crime solving, rather than a police officer, and he consistently disdains cops. Obviously she still steals, but it’s less of her defining characteristic. She’s more generous with the spoils too. For example, she funds Bruce’s charity projects. Stealing with no noble ulterior motive is presented less as empowerment from now on and more as a self-destructive compulsion, a symptom of her unhealthy, trauma-based survivalist mindset that she’s trying to escape.

Her change of heart improves her relationship with Batman. They get to know each other’s secret identities. The more cooperative Batcat, with the added intimacy and domesticity of Brucelina, is pretty much the Batman franchise OTP with Brutalia having petered out. I don’t want to get into ship wars, but at present canon, ever fickle mistress that it is, does largely lean my way.

Selina reunites with Holly in Anodyne, Holly only a few months off heroin. She starts pretending to be homeless, truly acting as Catwoman’s eyes and ears on the East End streets, and later becomes the new leader of the Alleytown Kids. She’s also a lesbian and has a girlfriend named Karon (whose hair is finally a consistent colour - purple). Selina tracks down and reunites her with her long-lost brother Davey in a nice roadtrip story. In One Year Later, the timeline in which Selina and Bruce have Helena Wayne, she succeeds the Catwoman mantle when Selina quits to be a more devoted mother. And in the buildup to Infinite Crisis, she befriends the antihero Harley Quinn and lives with her for some time.

Speaking of Harley Quinn, Selina has close friendships with her fellow morally flexible badass women, Harley and Poison Ivy. They collectively form the Gotham City Sirens. Their comic run of the same name brings this to the fore with them sharing a home and on paper all going straight. (They don’t, obviously). Bruce actually encourages these bonds because Selina keeps the other two in check and their friendship brings out their inner altruism; he knows Selina will side with him if Harley and Ivy, traditionally outright villains, fall too far into the darker shades of grey. The three still hurt each other, all having their own issues and different worldviews, but overall they’re a heartwarming, fun, awesome trio.

Selina trains Stephanie Brown as rookie Spoiler for a bit. Another interesting relationship given how similar Selina and Steph’s childhoods were that writers refuse to explore, because DC doesn’t let us have nice things. At least not for long.

Leslie Thompkins is another good friend of Selina, supporting her in helping the East End community.

But wait! Did you think DC would be satisfied with the amount of pain these characters have already gone through? Hell no! Catwoman: Relentless, chronologically before Gotham City Sirens, is a great big kick in the teeth. Buckle up. Selina’s been a significant thorn in Black Mask’s side, stealing $28 million from him in diamonds to fund an East End Community Centre, and he wants to make her pay for it with interest. He blows up the centre and kidnaps first Simon, then Maggie. Sylvia comes back into Selina’s life leading the Alleytown Kids (before Holly does it, sorry if my ordering is confusing) and seemingly is a friend and ally. But it’s revealed that due to her animosity toward her she’s been working for Black Mask the whole time and luring her into a trap. She was the one who told him her secret identity, enabling him to do all of this. Meanwhile, Black Mask is holding Maggie hostage. How does he hurt her to hurt Selina? Well, he tortures and murders her husband in front of her, cuts his eyes out and makes her eat them. Under-fucking-standably, Maggie’s sanity is… broken. Holly, who naturally also gets captured and tortured, ends up shooting Sylvia to save Selina’s life. Not just wilfully allowing her to die, actively shooting her. Selina also basically breaks her no-killing rule here. She kicks Black Mask off his balcony, then stands right in front of him and watches him slowly lose his grip on the ledge he caught in disgust while he begs her to help him. So that’s cool. But she and the people she loves are very, very hurt and traumatized, and she blames herself for all of it for trusting Sylvia and not being able to protect them.

Maggie has to live in a mental hospital after Relentless, trapped in an unresponsive catatonic state. What happens to her afterward… well… yet again, comics can’t give a straight answer. Blackest Night, that big crossover event with with loads of dead characters being revived as evil Black Lanterns, has Black Mask return to life and kidnap her to hurt Selina again, only for the Sirens to rescue her. But Maggie runs away and the chronologically later Gotham City Sirens run picks that thread up with her being homeless and now believing Selina is possessed by a cat demon and that’s why her life is full of sin, misfortune and general bad things. In the course of seeking to exorcise her, she gets possessed herself by an apparent (though suspiciously harmful and violent) genuine angel who not only causes her hallucinations that make her delusion look true, but gives her supernatural powers and possesses Harley too at one point. Maggie turns into the Christian extremist antivillain Sister Zero determined to ‘save’ her sister’s soul whether that keeps it in the mortal plane or not. It’s very weird. The nature and goals of the ‘angel’ are literally never explained, and that itself isn’t necessarily bad, but… I personally don’t like or agree with that direction, the whole thing just comes out of nowhere for me and I think the sisters have had enough angst and division already. I haven’t seen Sister Zero appear outside that series. The ongoing Volume 5 ignores all of that and begins with her still hospitalized and catatonic, having been so long enough that her straight bob has grown to be shoulder-length and curly. This run immediately follows the failed wedding fiasco in Tom King’s Batman run that I know a lot of fans, myself included, disdain and disregard. Here Maggie gradually improves. She’s taken to live with Selina to save her from villainous scheming. She regains her speech, she’s happy, she makes peace with Selina being Catwoman and the risks and pragmatism it entails. However, by issue #35 another villain, Christian fundamentalist assassin Father Valley, nearly kills Maggie just because of her association with Selina, and both sisters are pretty damn sick of people doing that. Maggie also wants to live on her own and reassert her independence. So she leaves Gotham and isn’t planning to come back, last time I checked.

During the time where Dick is Batman, we’re introduced to (vaguely aged, of course) adolescent Kitrina Falcone, the youngest child of the notorious Falcone crime family. She’s raised by her abusive, negligent uncle Mario. She spends a lot of time on the streets to avoid him, running jobs for criminals like the Penguin and getting prodigiously skilled at theft, breaking in and out of places, escaping restraints and mapmaking. Catwoman is her hero. Selina meanwhile wants to get ahead in an evolving crime scene, so she infiltrates the Falcone home and steals Kitrina’s maps of the new Black Mask’s territory alongside other valuables. The family accuse Kitrina of helping her and try to murder her. Lovely. She escapes sleeping with the fishes, confronts Selina and impresses her by escaping her and stealing her maps back. A familial bond forms between them and Kitrina is reborn as Catgirl! Catwoman’s very own Robin equivalent on the frontline. We joke about Bruce’s pattern of taking in traumatized young boys with nowhere else to go, but Selina has exactly the same pattern with that type of girl. I guess after she left one behind in Maggie, in repentance she’s proceeded to open her heart to every new one she comes across. Bruce is a massive hypocrite and disapproves of Kitrina being endangered like this, even though he’s permitted multiple Robins and Batgirls by now, and wants her to go to a boarding school upstate and improve her life the mundane way. Kitrina nearly dies one too many times and she and Selina concede that as hypocritical as it is, his argument holds water. Kitrina promises to return, though. A promise DC has yet to uphold!

Volume 4 confirms that Selina Kyle is canonically bisexual! She has a romance with Eiko Hasigawa, a Yakuza heiress and admirer of hers who takes up the Catwoman mantle while Selina temporarily operates as a crime kingpin. But in a good way. It’s complicated. No wonder she hangs out with Harley and Ivy as much as Bruce…

Volume 5 has Selina declare herself the ‘queen of Alleytown’ and take over the Nest, rebranding the Alleytown Kids the Alleytown Strays and teaching them to protect and provide for themselves with genuine care unlike her predecessors except Holly. It’s nice. But a lot of shit goes down involving Selina matching wits and trading blows with villains like the aforementioned Father Valley, the Penguin, the Riddler, and more! There are always more! The issues in the Fear State crossover overarching storyline are the climax, wherein the corrupt mayor and GCDP put Alleytown under siege at the same time as the villains’ overlapping schemes, and the Token Good Cop supporting character Hadley is killed for trying to help Selina. Alleytown is in ruins, but Selina sees it’s always been the people that are truly important, not the place. The people of this neighbourhood, her people, will endure. Deciding that mentoring them in professional crime is actually kinda counterproductive to giving the Strays better lives in the long term, she ‘abdicates’ her throne and gives the Nest to them as a safe haven in issue #39, the conclusion of Ram V’s run. Oh, and special attention is placed on one member of the Strays, a teenage girl known only by her nickname Shoes, and connected to the assassin Cheshire *SPOILERS* because she’s her and Arsenal’s long-lost presumed dead daughter Lian Harper. I personally disagree with this entire concept, but oh well. That makes four traumatized adolescent girl protégés from broken homes plus one token biologically related family member. Selina, you really are Bruce’s match.

[bruciemilf]

The Justice League being mildly disturbed, bewildered, and eerily...Impressed by Bruce's relationship with his rogues.

They've seen him and Harley get in a fist fight over the last Bat Burger fry.

With Harley trying to fix her now ruined pigtails and munching on her garlic glazed treat while Batman sipped the milkshake, completely ignoring the gush of blood dripping down his chin.

"... Do you want the Bat-Toy?"

"...Yeah."

Bruce can go from fighting Ivy one second, to helping her beat Hal's ass for littering in the middle of a battle.

He talks about Penguin like he's a problematic relative you have an annoying affection for. He pretends to be scared of Scarecrow's Fear Toxin to make him feel better about it not working on him.

He and Selina call eachother ' babe' and gossip while trying to put the other in the hospital.And don't get him started on Mr. Freeze. He WILL cry.

It's a very unusual relationship. They know for a fact none of them have lunches with THEIR villains.

" But I don't get it? I mean, Bats won't kill YOU, but...YOU can kill HIM."

" For what? So the police can kill us easier? Nice try."

Clark, panicked, calls the batkids when Bruce gets kidnapped. They don't know by WHO, which is the only reason they even bothered showing up. When they find out its HARVEY?

They all groan. Long and whiny. " Come on!"

" You made me abandon my Buzzfeed Unsolved marathon for this?"

Dick, peach face mask still drying, sighs, " I'm sorry, - this? Is probably the best thing that happened all week. Maybe month! Why would we be worried? He'll get 4 meals a day, 8 hours of sleep, -"

" Or two..."

" SHUT UP, STEPH! But anyway, Bruce is probably in his huge, black feathered night gown, getting his feet rubbed with extra expensive olive oil while eating blueberry yoghurt."

" With chocolate sprinkles!"

" Yes, Thank You, Tim. Clark, in the future, be worried if he DOESN’T get kidnapped. He'll be back in like, two weeks. Three, if he's feeling clingy. "

" But I don't understand? Bruce hangs out with...Criminals?"

" I'm sorry, " Dick gestures to the whole flock of them, " Where do you think we came from?"

[frownyalfred]

i've been dying to ask you this but for each batkid, what bruce partner would they root for, and why? (ex: dick roots for superbat because he likes clark, damian roots for bruce and talia because. well it's damian) as well as if they're against specific bruce partners and why as well (ex: [?] doesn't want ghostbat to succeed because _____)

My instinctive response is "whichever one gets him to shut up and stop being such a fucking loner weirdo all the time" but I suppose I can make some additional guesses.

Dick: Clark. He was basically already his stepdad growing up and seeing them not be a couple gives him Parent Trap urges.

Jason: Slade (he thinks it's funny) but if he had to pick a serious one, probably Clark.

Tim: Selina (he likes Kon too much to let him be his step brother)

Damian: Talia at first, but after a while, he doesn't want anyone to date his Father. He's seen too much.

Steph: Clark (she thinks it would be funny if Tim was dating his own step brother)

Cass: She likes Selina, she's too cool for Bruce though in her opinion. She likes Clark but thinks their relationship as friends is too strong to survive a fling.

Duke: Agrees with Alfred and just wants Bruce to be happy, even if that means being alone. He thinks Bruce and Clark have some strong UST going on though.

[vodrae]

Batkids :

Dick : Romani

Jason : Latino, (I think half Bazilian half Mexican but I can go the wrong way here)

Tim : Caucasian

Stephanie : Caucasian

Harper : Caucasian

Cassandra : Chinese (because Asian means nothing)

Duke : Black-American

Damian : Inherits all his mother's genes, Arab-Chinese

It's just funny to me that at first sight everybody would assumed Bruce's bio children are the 3 wild bisexuals (like their dad)

Jason is 100% latino, with black hairs and glowing green eyes, like Damian, all it needs is one picture taken with Selina.

Only one. And all Gotham would speculate to know not if, but how did Bruce and Selina hide their relationship so long.

And then out of nowhere Talia Head, Lexcorp's CEO, would drop the bomb, she's the one in long term relationship with Selina and Bruce had the kindness to...Give a part of him for every kids.

Jason, Damian, and Cass are hers.

Tim, Harper, Cullen are Selina's.

Duke is Alfred's grandchild by Julia Pennyworth.

Dick is the lovechild of them three, only one officialy adopted after the Flying Grayson's murder.

And Stéphanie broke into the fridge one day and Bruce didn't ask question.

I want chaos, I want to see the kids not knowing if they want to to laugh, admire her or puke (of joy to be a real family)

Kate, then annouce she's in the same situation with Poison Ivy for Barbara Gordon, but their lover was murdered, it's logic because...RED. The anarchy ! (If we're going with Barbs being Jim's niece then adopted daughter.).

Why didn't Bruce asked question for the blondie, LEMME TELL YA. Because Steph is the lost daughter he had in college with a certain Harleen Quinzel ! She told Jack Ryder !

And then everybody leaves the gala. Mission accomplished.

[redsrrrr]

Batkids vs Batman’s ‘partners’

Dick, hates Talia, loves Clark

Jason doesnt believe any woman should have to be in a relationship with bruce of all people

Tim chooses Hal out of sheer spite and ‘it would be funny’

Steph senses divorced sexual tension to the extremes with Khoa and also ‘it would be funny’

Duke admires Selina

Cass just wants another gal pal (nongender specific)

Damian supports the argument with his own mother

Barbara once made a throwaway comment about him and Gordon and still sticks by it

[haveihitanerve]

The Batkids Bruce ships-

Dick- Hard core Batcat fan. He was there in the early days, he saw the looks, the dances, he was there for their first few flirts and was there when selina was the only person who could knock sense into bruce. spent time with her, laughed with her. She is his mother confirmed and he adores her. likes clark, but selina is his mother and he knows that she would make bruce so happy if he got his head out of his ass and asked her to marry him finally

Jason- Now, he personally likes Brutalia, but he understands its not good. Not healthy. He knows much more about Bruces and Talias relationship than any of the other kids, because he heard both sides. And he truly thinks they could work well together, but logically knows that they are better off as friends and truly doesnt want Talia near his father that much. So technically, for realistic purposes, he likes Batcat. He also witnessed the flirting, and the date nights, and the chasing across rooftops, plus selina and he really bonded over a shared background of living on the streets and ranting over bruces stupidity. So, he loves selina like a mother, but ships Brutalia

Tim- In the early days he was a hardcore Superbat shipper, but now that hes actually seen them interact, he does admit they are just brothers, even though they might be seen as gay. Honestly there isnt all that much on his and selinas relationship, and we all know he hates the league, but i would say hes a Batcat shipper as well, if only because he sees the good impact she has on bruce and has heard dick fawn over his mother

Cass- She and Selina go hard man. Batcat shipper until the end. Would literally propose to bruce for him if he doesnt do it soon. loves selina, the older woman just understands her

Babs- Its complicated. technically she has witnessed every single relationship bruce has had(and in some cases she is his relationship, but that is a dark corner of comics and shows that we are ignoring) but genuinely doesnt care who he ends up with, as long as said person makes him happy, since she doesnt live at the manor and wouldnt really have to deal with his SO, but she does want bruce to be happy, and her research has shown that BatCat would work best. plus shes biased because of dick

Stephanie- Hard core Superbat shipper, if only because it drives bruce insane. Has also argued for LanternBat and ArrowBat, but thats meant less seriously. Like babs, just wants bruce to be happy and maybe having a stable relationship will distract him from her and her shenanigins. (it probably wont but she has hope) has nothing against Batcat and likes Selina, but is a Superbat shipper until she dies

AAAAAAH-- we gotta go back to jason i forgot about his Wonder Woman infatuation- obvi would love to have her as like a pseudo mom, but also has a very firm belief that bruce wishes he could pull her, but actually cant. doesnt change anything about his Batcat shipping, but just forgot to add

Damian- Is a divorced kid. Just wants his parents back together. Accepts Selina, likes her because she is sweet and funny and makes his father happy and gives him cats, but wants his parents together. he doesnt ship them tho because 'thats childish Grayson'

[kittyilana046]

THE DC UNIVERSE MASTERLIST - BATFAMILY EDITION

TTHE BATFAMILY MASTERLIST

Started: 12/18/2020

Last Updated: 12/29/2022

This master list is a collection of analysis essays, headcanons, and comic book panels posted by my favorite bloggers. I did not write any of the posts linked below, and I do not own any pictures used. All credit goes to the original artists and bloggers who created this content. 

I created this master list intending to archive my favorite posts. I am sharing it because I believe this list is a perfect jumping-off point for new fans who want a comprehensive guide to understanding these characters.

I encourage you to interact with original bloggers and also comic canon. 

Please send me an ask or DM if you want to talk about comic books.

Thank you 

~ Haleigh 

Links

DC UNIVERSE MASTERLIST

META / ESSAYS

Batman (Bruce Wayne)

Bruce Wayne outside of Batman

Bruce firing Dick vs. Dick firing Tim

Bruce Wayne’s childhood + a short analysis his relationship with Alfred Pennyworth

Do Bruce and Selina truly love each other?

Does Bruce love Damian?

Did Bruce love Jason?

Is Bruce a good dad?

Is Bruce nice?

Jason was Bruce’s beloved son and DC’s writers are doing shit.

Tips for writing Bruce Wayne

Batgirl (Barbra Gordon)

Thoughts on Barbra’s independence and how it affects her relationship with Dick

Batgirl/Black Bat/Orphan (Casandra Cain)

Does Casandra know ASL?

How does Casandra process anger?

Huntress (Helena Bertinelli)

Helena’s relationship with Tim Drake

Nightwing (Dick Grayson)

Dick Grayson’s moral compass + how Bruce’s expectations shaped him

Dick Grayson’s strengths and weaknesses  

Dick Grayson’s guilt complex

Dick Grayson and Temper

Dick Grayson and fashion trends

Dick, you’re so spoiled (Discussing and his relationship with money)

Do Dick and Jason get along in comics?

DICK I’LL BE THERE FOR YOU GRAYSON

DICK GRAYSON AND ALFRED PENNYWORTH’S RELATIONSHIP META

Do Dick Grayson and Roy Harper have commitment issues?

Does Dick Grayson wear a metaphorical mask like Bruce Wayne does? 

Objectification or Empowerment: how writers express Dick Grayson’s sexuality

Superman and Dick Grayson’s first meeting

What is Dick Grayson’s ethnicity?

Robin (Damian Wayne)

Do you guys ever think about how much of a crappy life Damian has been having since Rebirth? Because I do.

Is Damian sexist?

Proof Damian has a heart p1

Things I Wish Writers Would Explore More with Damian

Red Hood (Jason Todd)

Jason’s time as Robin

Jason Todd’s less known skills appreciation

Jay and Dick are musicians? What do they play?

Jason Todd and the Ladies: Post-Resurrection

Recontextualizing the death of Filipe Garzonas

The Jason Todd Book Club (books that Jason has mentioned in canon)

What kind of father was Willis Todd?

Where did Jason get his Respect Women Juice?

Red Robin (Tim Drake)

Does Tim Drake conically suffer from depression?  

How did Tim Drake’s trauma affect him?

Is Tim Drake insecure?

Is Tim Drake sexist?

I wanna talk about Janet Drake

Tim Drake’s childhood

The beginning of Tim Drake’s career as Robin

Was Tim Drake born a genius?

Was Tim Drake the CEO of Wayne Enterprises? What was his job at W.E.? Did he like it?

Your Tim Drake coffee headcanon is whack

Spoiler (Stephanie Brown)

How did the batfam react to Stephanie’s death?

What is the canon surrounding Stephanie’s economic status?

The Signal (Duke Thomas)

Duke is not a boring character – Here are some of his achievements

Duke thomas isn’t the sane one! A guide by pepper

Who is Duke Thomas?

MORE INFO HERE!

CANON VS. FANON

Batfamily canon things that we should not let fall into obscurity

Characterization cheat sheet: the batfamily boys

The Batkids views on money

What are in your opinion the biggest difference between the comic and the fanon versions of the other Batfamily members?

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

The history of the “Robin” title

The ages of the Batfamily kids according to Secret Files timelines

What are the Batkids legal names/adoption status?

HEADCANON

How would the Batfamily comfort someone who's sad? 

Is Dick Grayson demisexual?

Is Dick Grayson a romantic?

Dick Grayson and Kids

Would Bruce Wayne be a good boyfriend?

What would Bruce be like if his parents never died?

What should happen after the Ric Grayson arc ends?

What hogwarts house would jason todd be in?

Where would you sort the Batfamily?

THE ROBIN'S RELATIONSHIPS WITH EACH OTHER

All Robins are great and they all bring something to the table

Advice on how to write Damian and Tim brother dynamic

Damian & Dick: analyzing their relationship

Another analysis of Dick and Damian’s relationship

Do you think Dick and Damian have a brotherly relationship?

The Batboys calling each other brother

Where does the “little wing” nickname come from?

COMIC PANELS

Batman (Bruce Wayne) 

Batman #42 by Tom King and Mikel Janin (Bruce and Selina get captured)

Batman being a Batdad to his Batprincess

Banana Muffin is Superman and Batman’s safeword

Batman & Robin Eternal #22 (Bruce being kind to Damian)

Detective Comics (2016-) #1017

Gotham Knights #11 (“I am a model of mental health”)

How Bruce deals with trauma

Injustice 2 #51 -”Have you tried turning it on an off again?”

“My favorite superhero is Superman” “…He’s my favorite, too”

Robin (Damian Wayne)

Deathstroke #5 - “Mirrors” (2016) (Damian taunting Deathstroke)

Damian talks a lot in front of his favorite people

Injustice 2 #8 (Proof Damian has a heart p2)

Robin Son of Batman 011 (Damian being done with Bruce and Talia)

The Shadow/Batman #3 (Ra's al Ghul threatening Damian)

Super-Sons My Best Friend

Nightwing (Dick Grayson)

Everyone loves Dick Grayson

Dick beating up Bruce compilation

Dick is that type of brother…

Dick you whore

Dick imitating a crowbar

Unpublished pages of Nightwing #30

Red Hood (Jason Todd)

Batman: Urban Legends - “Cheer II” (2021)

Detective Comics (2016) #976 (Jason standing up to the Batfamily)

Robin 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular #1 - “More Time” (2020)

Red Hood and The Outlaws (2016) #52

Red Robin (Tim Drake)

Tim and Dick talking: A Compilation

[sofia-not-sophie]

And the moon’s never seen me before, But I’m reflecting Light

Summary: “No, Mother I will be along shortly, there’s no need to call a ride service.” The older looking Damian said into his phone, “I just need to retrieve my keys and I will be on the road.” He paused when he reached the bottom of the stairs and looked over Clark and his companions, “On second thought, Mother, please do call a ride service, something just came up in the cave…See you soon…Love you, bye."

OR

The second part in the series where our canon-ish bats (and Clark) go to the Oriole universe and accidentally crash a damijon wedding.

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi

Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types, Superman - All

Media Types Relationships: Jonathan Kent/Damian Wayne, Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne, Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne

Characters: Clark Kent, Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne, Stephanie Brown, Cassandra Cain, Duke Thomas

Additional Tags: Batkids Age Reversal, Alternate Canon, Weddings, uhhh, No Beta We Die Like Tim Drake, the two bruce ships are two different bruces, Batfamily (DCU), Good Parent Talia al Ghul

Language:English

Series: Part 2 of Reverse! Reverse! (Cha cha now y'all)

Words: 1,587 Chapters: 1/?

[minnesota-fats]

Thank you for answering my ask!

I can see Bruce and Maddie meeting because of Science and interestingly enough, Maddie and Jack have an open relationship. I don't know why but I do ( on the flip side Vlad will self-destruct on that revelation )

How do Ra's, Talia, and Bruce himself think about Danny, his powers, and being the Ghost King? And Jack and Maddie who raised him?

Also, I find the thought hilarious if Bruce did have a 4th blood child( I'm counting Dani/Ellie ), it's freaking Marinette from Miraculous Ladybug, and JL, DP, and MLB are all on the same Earth.

Ironically Marinette was conceived the same way, drunken nightstand while in a high brow Gala in Paris with Sabine being a server, and shortly after that she met Tom, fell in live, and he raised her as his daughter.

At least Danny and Marinette can bond over them fighting fruit loops who should get a pet cat.

And the JL wasn't really on the up and up about what's going on in Paris because A) Everything gets fixed in the end and B) Kwami hijinks did a notice me not kind of Harry Potter spell until Constantine or Bruce starts poking around there. And C) Clockwerk may had helped keeping the secret because he owned the Kwami a favor.

Poor Damian once he finds out about that on top of still believing with his entire chest that Bruce + Selina = Dani will forever think that his Father, The Batman, is a Hoe 🤣

OH MY GODS THE CHAOS!!!!

—

Vlad would be so mad! And he would bitterly be sitting in the corner at a gala in Gotham and Danny would SO rub it into his face like: “oh look at how cool my second DAD is, dont you think so Vlad???” With the smuggest smirk anyone has ever seen on the boy. All the bats would be confused but Jazz (who is also there) is like: “don’t worry about it, Vlad deserves this.” Leaving the Batfam confused because this was Jazz—the voice of reason—Fenton. Then Elle would join in and just be fuckin brutal, “haha, bitch! bet you wish you were him huh?” And vlad storms off to sulk in peace. (Or try to anyway, there is no peace when there are ghost kids about!)

—

Ra’s would be bitter that the ghost king wasn’t his heir but would ultimately try to obtain Danny as a resource. Talia would be ok with Danny being the ghost king because what better way to have her son be protected than have his half brother be the king of the dead as well as having an obsession dedicated to protecting the people he cares about. Bruce would be devastated that his eldest bio son died before he was able to meet him but would quickly move on when he realizes that it doesn’t change the fact that Danny is his bio son. Ra’s Talia and Bruce all agree that the Fenton’s are very interesting people to say the least.

—

Tbh, Im not completely into the whole Miraculous x DC x Danny Phantom crossover. But I do vibe with the whole, Danny and Marinette bonding over having to fight crazy adults that need therapy. Also its Wayzz that Clockwork owes a favor to and he just puts Paris in its own little time bubble where time flows normally but the outside world is just getting signals from alternate reality Paris where nothing wins wrong.

—

Dani/Elle: “HA- your bio-dads a whore!”

Dami: “shut up!”

Danny: “your my clone so he is technically your bio-dad too.”

Danny/Elle: “HA- our bio-dad’s a whore!”

Marinette: “I don’t know how I got into this situation, I just want to draw in PEACE???”

And as said before, there is no peace when there are ghost children about. (Also batkids)

[gautierprotectionsquad]

All of my Favorite fanfics

Fandoms: DCU, Ace Attorney, ORV, AFTG, FE3H, TMA, Junoverse, SOC

Ace Attorney

A Boy at the Airport : AU where Phoenix runs into a tiny Apollo Justice who just immigrated from Khura'in and takes him in.

The Phoenix, and Other Early Birds: AU where Apollo watches the Enigmar v state trial and insists on helping Phoenix get his badge back

A Crack in the Marble : AU where Miles Edgeworth is the prosecutor for State v Wright (with Dahlia)

And If My Wishes All Come True : Apollo adopts a cat, Klavier pines, and they make a lot of divorce jokes

The Complete Turnabout: Phoenix sent to an AU where he's a prosecutor

Burning on in my heart: Klapollo sickfic that explores their insecurities and internal struggles.

Exorcism: AA4 rewrite. Serial Killer known as the Devil has killed every innocent defendant from Klavier’s cases.

Dirty Paws: Crack taken seriously: Larry Butz writes Warrior Cats fanfiction to cope.

Sharing A Dream: Klapollo bodyswap highschool au

Gonna Make this Place Your home: Klapollo fic. Apollo and friends and love and home

His Highness the Second: AU where the Revolution happens early and Apollo gets to grow up in Khura’in. Apollo has a loving family.

In lipstick on the mirror are the lyrics to my obituary: Klapollo bodyguard AU.

Man of Mist: AU where Kristoph adopts Apollo. A dark story about a toxic familial relationship between a serial killer and the boy he loves.

Miles von Karma: Gregory Edgeworth Lives AU and Gregory Edgeworth POV where Miles is sent back in time and to an alternate universe. Miles has lost his memories and works as a detective.

The Legacy of Gregory Edgeworth: AU where Raymond Shields adopts Miles

The Infernal Prosecutor vs The Defense Heir: Narumitsu Role swap AU

Revival: Dual Destinies rewrite

Alt (better) ending for AA5

Soleil and the Demons: Apollo finds his bio family but when the family falls apart after his step father's disappearance, Apollo embraces his performer side and joins a band

It Never Rains but it pours: Apollo joins Wright and Co early

DCU

Gotham by Messier_47: Superbat Identity porn. Clark hates Gotham but meets a man who IS Gotham and learns to see the city in a new light

Jason Todd's terrible, horrible, no-good very bad Week: Jason gets captured by the Justice League and his brothers sneak into the Watchtower to save him

Loading and Aspect Ratio: Batfam wings au (kinda) with Superbat

Plagiarism is Not a Joke, Batman: Batman reveals his identity to the Justice League. He is far younger than they thought.

Smoking in the Boys Room: Superbat identity porn. Clark finds Bruce injured in a bathroom stall

Space Cellmates: Identity porn Superman and Bruce Wayne are kidnapped by aliens

The Man Behind the Curtain: Superbat identity reveal. Superman slowly learns more about batman.

The Mask Behind the Mask: Justice League learns about Brucie's reputation

The Waynes, Damsels in Distress: Batfam lets themselves get kidnapped bc they think it's funny (it is)

thirteen: Clark/Bruce. Clark Kent is hired as Bruce Wayne's nanny. All the batkids are close in age and Clark is not Superman.

The Longer You Stay: Domestic Selina/Bruce. Selina pov. A retired vigilante and retired thief live a quiet life and adopt three children.

Trust through the ages: De-aged Bruce Wayne. The Bats and the Flashes are close friends.

In Love with Justice: The Justice League think Batman and Nightwing are dating. they are hilariously wrong.

a heart just can't contain all of this empty space: Young Justice Team are tired of Bat secrets

Sneaking out for superhero teenagers: Tim needs to go to Central City without the rest of the family knowing so he comes up with a plan to sneak out. He runs into some superheroes on the way

through different colored glasses: It all started when Jason was trying to rescue his rocket launcher. (this fic is for me specifically bc of my experience with broken door handles.)

Two Sides: Jason meets Damian in the League of Assassins.

Equal Magnitude: The Robins' favorite superhero.

Batman, go grab your Robin... Wait, wrong Robin!: Tim goes trick or treating only to get kidnapped!!...By Batman?

In this Town We Call Home: The Drakes use Batman as a boogeyman to make their son behave...it didn't work out how they expect.

I wish I was: JayRoy no vigilantes au/romcom au. Jason and Roy have a meet-cute at a bookstore and then keep running into each other. 5 times Jason accidentally turns Roy down and 1 time he says yes.

In Your Pocket: JayRoy no vigilantes romcom au. For the dramatic irony enjoyers. Wrong numbers.

Familiar: JayRoy. Romcom with a vigilante twist. Contains fun banter, fluffy fluff, Austen levels of slowburn, Roy and Jason being dads, and heartbreak.

Cause You Mean More than Anything: Series of fics about the justice league's dramatic theories about batman's love life.

Life After Life: Thomas and Martha Wayne Beetlejuice AU

Lighting Bolts and Breaking Clouds: Jason and Roy adopt Billy Batson

tribute: Billy Batson dresses up as his favorite hero for Halloween

Dangerous and Noble: The Bats investigate their missing neighbor. Tim and Cass meet in the LOA au.

Things My Heart Used to Know: Jayroy. Jason Todd has been missing for 6 years and there's a 5 million dollar reward for anyone that can bring him home. Roy finds someone who happens to look a lot like Jason and they're both desperate for money. Inspired by Anastasia.

farthest you've ever flown: Robin!Tim gets kicked out of Drake manor. Red Hood finds him. Alternate first meeting.

No Strings Attached: Boostle no capes/powers au. Friends with Benefits to Lovers. Superhero groups are bands in this universe

In This or any Other Universe: Nightwing ends up in Battinson universe.

The Bachelor: Robin Edition: Batman needs a Robin. Tim knows just the plan. Kidnap several black haired blue eyed children to train and test them to become the perfect Robin until only 1 remains. He doesn't know how to test for "lovable" but he'll figure it out.

Come Alive: Dick went to Infinity Island on a mission to rescue three and ends up with Jason and Damian, too. 3x06 of Young Justice AU.

Now you will not swell the rout: Tim wants to be Robin but Batman is too overprotective and won't let him out into the field. So he tries street fighting to prove to Bruce he can take a hit and train himself. He meets a vigilante in a red helmet, too.

Little Bird's Wings: Jason comes back to Gotham only to find Batman and the Joker missing. He wants answers and instead he finds a few teen vigilantes running around.

break: Tim retires from vigilantism. If only Gotham would let him stay retired.

Working With Professionals Once: Red Hood has a plan. That plan backfires when his goons kidnap Bruce Wayne

Forecast: Red Hood pulls Dick's body out of the water. ANGST hurt/comfort. Jason coming home/identity reveal

False Words: One of the best handlings of Dick during RR/Dick and Tim's reconciliation after RR. (specifically chapters 3, 8, 12, 13, 15, 16)

reset: Circe puts a spell on Red Hood that gives him temporary amnesia. Jason wakes up confused why his family is so distant

The Nuclear Option: Tim blackmails Alfred into going to Comic Con with him. SUPER CUTE

(Honorable mention to Either Side of the Median by CaffienatedCopyeditor which is no longer on AO3.)

FE3H

Keep Him Safe: Sylvix adopts a son

the courage to love, a guide to fatherhood by felix fraldarius: Felix adopts a daughter

TMA

(i don't read tma fic much)

Rather Interesting: Crack treated seriously. jonah magnus/elias bouchard. canon compliant somehow. Elias is able to regain consciousness whenever Jonah smokes weed.

AFTG

(there's not that many here bc i didn't start keeping track till later)

Love Hurts: Aaron/Katelyn before the start of TFC

Red Right Hand: Au where Nathaniel Wesninski works for the Moriyamas and has been assigned to collect Kevin Day.

This was Home: Someone's OC joins the foxes

Pie Another Day: Pushing Up Daises AU

TPP

(there's not that many here bc i didn't start keeping track till later)

up the wolves: A nine-year-old juno stumbles into one of jet's post-heist hiding places

Six of Crows

(i don't read soc fic much)

The Meadow: Kaz dreams of his brother while finding himself past the age he thought he'd die at, and feeling stuck while all his friends have changed.

ORV

A Circle to Your Square: ORV rewrite where Yoo Joonghyuk and Kim Dokja were dating before the scenarios started

Ascension, Love, and the Ever Present Push and Pull: De-aged Dokja

Rendezvous: ORV in Yoo Joonghyuk's POV

and at the very least, the wall will change: No Scenarios Soulmate AU

World's End Rhapsody: After the epilogue, there is love.

how the mighty fall (in love): Yoo Joonghyuk can't stop thinking about Dokja. Eventually decides to settle the matter. (it's horny with no sex)

Knight in shining (plot) armor: Kim Dokja gets isekaid into Ways of Seduction, a smutty stallion novel. (spoilers for tls123's identity)

All the things we didn't say: ORV rewrite where Kim Dokja writes letters to Yoo Jonghyuk

Down: 1863 Yoo Jonghyuk meets a stranger. A thief. An uncanny man with all-knowing eyes and a too-clever tongue. A man of harsh words. A man of soft touches. The Wall tells him a story about this man and another version of himself and he listens.

[spookyprime]

I’m so curious about the other Batkids in the hometown au… you’ve drawn Jason a few times, but what are he and the others actually up to?

— @ghostinacardboardbox

Oh my god okay. Okay. So hometown actually started as a batfam au, but then I just got swept up in the young justice side story but it DID start with them. I'm so sorry this is going to be a lot but I wanna taaaaaalk about hometown I'm sorry.

Bruce is a pediatric surgeon. He still adopts a ton of kids but the circumstances have changed wildly. He’s a more patient and well adjusted man. Goes to therapy and loves his kids. Extremely divorced. Been married to both Harvey dent and talia. Divorced from both. Is currently in a complicated relationship with Selina but keeps looking at Clark. He’s messy. He’s a kind man though and damnit he’s a good dad. Also hes Jewish. It's not important to the story but it's important you know.

Dick is an entertainer at the childrens hospital. Yes I made him a clown shut up he does tricks and makes balloon animals for kids with cancer and stuff. He was adopted by Bruce after his parents “accident” but never went looking for revenge because he was actually given grief counseling and proper methods of care. He and Bruce still argue from time to time but their relationship is far less strained than in canon. They work at the same hospital. He does not live with Bruce.

as Jason did not get taken in by Batman he spent more time on the streets than in canon. He was a very rough pre-teen because of this. he isnt someone worth extorting so idk how the joker gets ahold of him but the joker just beats him near to death. No exploding building or anything. Jason doesn’t die. He’s airlifted to the pediatric hospital where he meets Bruce as his surgeon. Idk how the logistics of this work okay. Bruce saves his life and like. Idk. Feels real fuckin bad for this kid. The fostering set up was supposed to be temporary but Jason is deeply charming and likable so he kind of just never left. He needs permanent walking aids and has several chronic problems from the beating he was given. I’m thinking probably broke his back in several places- he’s not paralyzed but has pain issues. Does not have a job- lives with Bruce but sometimes lives at Roy’s. He's the embodiment of this pic

during the time Bruce was looking after Jason’s recovery he was also getting divorced from talia. This, reasonably, made him extremely stressed out and irritable. Tim is still their neighbor (fuck the timeline i dont care) and has 0 adult supervision and gets his kicks watching these two insane people have screaming matches on their front lawn. It’s deeply entertaining because Tim is a fucking weirdo. Bruce finds out very quickly their weird neighbor kid is watching them fight but instead of getting mad he’s more like “Where are your parents? why don’t you have someone watching you? why are you out here?” Tim is not adopted or fostered he just stays with Bruce while his parents are away. The drakes are actually very pleased with this arrangement. The drakes death happens several years into tim staying at Wayne manor because their attack had nothing to do with Batman or robin. However Batman is not there to negotiate jack- so he dies as well as Janet. Tim is- reasonably- very upset about this. I haven't figured out how Tim loses his spleen but the fact he's immunocompromised is important to me so he IS here. He's also Jewish and enjoys being able to celebrate holidays with Bruce when his parents aren't around.

Damian is a BABYYYY he's a baby. Bruce has custody but he visits talia every other weekend.

[asongofstarkandtargaryen]

Any lgbt headcanons of the batfam? :)

I have too many of them to include on a single ask so I'll only list a couple of them here.

(please keep in mind that those are HEADCANONS. I don't want anyone screaming in my inbox that most of them aren't canon in the comic universe, I know that myself. But it's always nice to be creative with your favourite characters).

Also warning! not all of them are fluffy.

Tim first came out as bi to his older brother Dick. To the one person who always supports him and is there for him. And ofc Dick made him feel accepted (not because I headcanon Dick being also bi but because Dick will always make Tim feel accepted and loved. Period)

Everytime Damian and Tim are having brotherly fights the latter yells that Damian's actions "is a crime against lgbt + community". Which drives Damian mad because he's really a lgbt+ supporter and Tim knows it irritates Dami that's why he keeps saying it ( totally brotherly behavior).

But aside from their sibling fights if anyone dares to make an ill comment about his big brother Tim dating a boy in Damian's presence, they are gonna have their asses kicked.

Dick and Barbara are the both bi and in a relationship ( well the latter is also canon in main universe). Unlike, the stereotypes that bi people like to sleep around ( which are very harmful and wrong , imo) both Dick and Babs only had serious relationships in their lives and always needed love in order to have sex with someone.

Jason doesn't like sex due to the awful circumstances of his first time ( groomed by an older woman he trusted). For a long time he thinks something is wrong with him for not enjoying or wanting sex and maybe that is a side affect on his resurrection.

Once while he was drunk and crying he shared information about his dislike of sex and how he thought it made him abnormal with big sis Babs. She assured him that he's perfectly normal and ( after asking Cass' permission first) she got him in touch with the other batfamily member who doesn't like sex, aka Cass.

Cassandra, unlike Jason, doesn't have a traumatic experience for disliking sex. She doesn't even have strong negative feelings about sex, she simply doesn't feel the need to do it and that's why she never had or plans to have sex. Being a private person she only shared the fact that she's ace with Steph and Babs.

But she felt relieved to share that info with another person who was also possibly ace ( Jason) because sometimes you need to talk to someone who's like you. Jason also felt better after talking with Cass and now those two who previously rarely interacted have a stronger bond.

Steph never gave any labels to herself. In the past she enjoyed being in relationships (and having sex) with both boys and girls. But once she fells for Cass ( StephCass is always endgame) she doesn't care about not having sex with Cass due to the latter being ace. She wants to be in a relationship with Cass and she wouldn't change a thing about her girlfriend

Bruce is a supportive and proud dad. He wants to go to pride with all the batkids, carrying all their flags. He wants to be a good ally and he's not sure how he should show his support them best. Luckily for him he has both Selina and Kate to help him by giving him some tips.

[frownyalfred]

I do find it interesting how many people have mentioned his kids being mad at him cause (as I said in a prev anon) Dick and Tim have canonically cheated before! Not hating just interesting to see how out of character certain moments in comics can feel. I like the idea of a mostly silent disapproval but each of them ultimately rooting for Bruce’s happiness over everything. Like they love Lois! Bruce made a huge mistake! But also that’s their dad…and any mistake he makes is just that. A mistake. It’s not a fault of his character

I was also mulling over how much you could compare and contrast Bruce and Clark by having Bruce be with Selina at the time

Like having him immediately tell Selina what happened, why it happened, and if it’s gonna happen again. Just like open communication especially when it involves the mission right

Obviously the differences in the two relationships too. Like Selina and Bruce are closer to a situationship but they have the ability to discuss this in a way that Clark doesn’t mostly cause he’s repressed (very ironic)

I am also a fan of Bruce almost siding with Lois in all of this?? Like everyone is kinda pitting them against each other but Bruce doesn’t think he’s in the right. There’s nothing to pit. He was wrong and she should be supported etc etc

Maybe I’ve been reading too many Mafia AUs but I get the feeling, outside of Clark, the batkids really don’t air their grievances with Bruce to the wider world! Maybe to their partners. But not to those outside of the family. They’ll be furious or upset with Bruce, they can fight, but they still close ranks at the end of the day.

[f4nd0m-fun]

Batfam Mafia AU

Not that the fam themselves (most of them) are in the Mafia tho, I just don't have a better name.

@hallowsden helped me with this a while ago but this is the expanded version.

Essentially, you've got bronze age Joker as a Mafia boss who has a penchant for cruel jokes and unusual punishment but he's a lot more moral in this than he has been in the past, partially that he doesn't target children anymore.

Harley used to work at the local prison, essentially her job was figuring out if the inmates got worse while there or were sent there wrongly. People didn't like how good she was doing with her job (plus that's where she met Joker, tho she was hiding there relationship) so she got sent to work at Arkham in hopes it would break her or something (it slightly did but she's not as unhinged as a Jokered Harley)

Joker is like a step-dad to the batkids and Pam is like a step-mom in the same dad way, but the kids more or less fight over who the best mom-mom is.

Jason still died because a rival of Joker's found out he was working with the vigilantes and took it into their own hands to remedy that and tried to pin it on Joker, not realizing he was technically family with them.

Anyway, Talia gets back from a trip, finds out, and takes Jason's corpse to LoA. Jason ends up considering her 'best mom'. Then Harley becomes 'Second Mom' because he decides to take Joker's old name and try and weasel his way to working under his step-dad (Joker finds out almost immediately)

Anyway, besides Jason, here's what Mom(s) I think the kids would gravitate towards the most (I consider Ivy a mom-adjacent dad/wine aunt combo because of her vibes)

Dick is the kid who thinks Selina is Best Mom. He'll sometimes join her heists when he wants to destress, especially since most of her heists are only harming the rich idiots and museums, the latter of which gets sent to their home countries. He spends all much time with her a lot of people think she's his actual mom (not that Egyptian and Romani are the same but most people can't really tell the difference plus Bruce is pale as fuck)

Cass has too many bad memories and trauma from assassin days to really see Talia as a mom figure but she does call her aunt from time to time (unless Talia spent time overtaking some of Cass' training and used that time to make things better where she could).

Tim blew up the LoA, I'm not sure how fond he'd be of Talia unless she helped him do so but still. Plus, imagine if he just went 'Sike I'm going with Joker and Harley' either when Bruce tried to adopt him, or maybe willingly becoming Joker Jr. when Damien took over as Robin (Damien was still raised in the LoA but Talia did better this time with him). I feel like he'd still have somewhat of a Hero getup tho for outside of Gotham since Joker is considered a villain, so he takes on 'Red' after his step-dad and his big brother, and 'Robin' from his old role.

Steph I'm not sure but I feel like she'd get along with Harley. Be funny if she and Tim would be all 'Jokerina and Junior' creepy twin shenanigans, but she'd still be Spoiler as well, kinda depends on how much she wants to annoy Bruce at the time. Or maybe she goes for a Harley-look-alike - 'Quinnie and Junior'?

Duke is a kitty kat kid most of the time. He's a street fighter, as much or more than Jason, but while Jason later got trained by Bruce then Talia, Duke got his training from Bruce and Selina.

Damien, as mentioned before, was raised by Talia, but he also grew up with Jason for a bit, and maybe Tim babysat him as well from time to time when he was at the LoA (they have a better relationship than Canon). Not much changes but he isn't at murder happy.

In terms of non-platonic relationships, you have...

Brutalina, BatJokes, Jarley, and Harlivy

Also, depending on how you want to drag things, Ras is either redeemable or he's that grandpa you're not a fan of who keeps inserting himself into family functions and it's not like you can kill him right? Or both, both is good. 😂