#that is an AU of this AU though - Barbara and Cassandra having this mantle that feels incredibly stained through the actions

[teleportationmagic]

Reverse Batgirls AU.

Stephanie Brown starts out young and angry, wanting to put her father in prison. That doesn't change - but what does, is the name she picks up to do it. After all, Batman is... untouchable, he's justice he's power - what more can she want as a vigilante?

A whole lot, as it turns out. But still, she wears the name with pride, patrolling with Robin (Damian!) and Cassandra, making friends with the latter. Signal's farther afield, away in Bludhaven - still, he drops by now and again to play games of rooftop tag.

Cassandra has been doing work as a vigilante in all but name for a few years now. She ping pongs around - saving enough lives to have earned herself a reputation. A reputation strong enough to have made its way into circles that knew her father. These are the people who pick her name for her, seeing her father's legacy - Orphan is not a name she chooses. But after she settles in Gotham, after Bruce comes to her one day, telling her the meaning - she cannot bring herself to call it false.

Damian still ends up leaving for bigger things. A position is open, and Bruce doesn't think it needs filling - but Stephanie has lost one teacher, and for all that Cassandra is good at violence she is not very good at teaching it. He takes her under his wing, and eventually passes down a mantle.

Steph has her own mantle to pass down. "I don't know that I can tell you who you are - who your family is. But still - I don't think me or Bruce or Damian or anyone considers you an Orphan, not anymore. Batgirl isn't - she's not as good as Orphan is. But I wanted to give her to you anyways."

Cassandra takes the purple suit with a gentle sort of consideration. It's not the suit she wears, three weeks later - but the Bat is there, golden against the dark black. Bruce smiles when she steps out of the Batcave, shrouded in darkness except for the sign of her ideals, their ideals. Robin and Batgirl and Batman fly again, capes trailing through the darkness.

Steph gets to be Robin for a while - gets to carve out her own reputation. Her and Damian fight, and the reconcile, and fight again. It takes her a little bit longer to figure out why he's so angry, takes him a little longer to realize why she wants it so bad.

It helps, that Stephanie is two years older than Cassandra, but still its difficult for them to fight together. She still perceives her own presence as superfluous, and Cassandra still thinks it is her job to take bullets so no one else has to. They have a chat, under a dark alcove when Stephanie is bandaging her wounds, about pain, and the taking thereof. About balance. About how Robin was a superhero too.

Cassandra leaves Gotham, on occasion - she partners with Signal, Katana, and Black Lightning. She meets her mother there, for the first time. She won't know it, not until later, but they clash, fists against metal. This is the first time she dies, and she comes back to life with the worried eyes of her teammates.

She still gets shot. There's no gang war, but there is Roman Sionis with greedy hands and eyes, and five days followed by two clicks, two bangs. The hospital tells her she's lucky to still be standing. The word luck curls on her tongue, like something bitter.

Cassandra still tears through the city looking for her. But when she finds her, when she recovers, something settles into Stephane's skin - something bitter and angry. Cassandra can see it, even when she pretends at lightness, the jealousy and rage. Stephanie knows she sees it. This does not make things better.

Bruce takes the injury... badly. His hold tightens on all four of them. Damian and Steph take it with no small amount of anger - Bruce is not allowed in the Brown family home and Damian leaves for the Titans, again. Cassandra follows Duke to Bludhaven, pulling on his operations to set up her own. The end result is Duke's home being slowly invaded by a girl who becomes his sister.

This does not help Bruce - with no one to keep him steady, he spirals, paranoia whispering into one ear and rage into another. Tim still comes out of the woodwork, with memories of the way a dark haired kid twisted out of the hold of a particularly pushy partyguest (followed by a silent swordfight through a different hallway) inspiring a half-decades worth of trying to scratch an itch, before coming across the perfect answer.

Cassandra still leaves for answers. Bit by bit, it becomes unignorable - Shiva is her mother, undoubtedly. She limps back to Duke's home to share it between shaking sobs, and stories about all the dead men she left in the snow. He tells her in return about his father - biological and not. And he's angry on her behalf, she can see that - but still, there is warmth for her here. There is always warmth for her here. Even when she leaves burn marks on the ceiling and takes up the bathroom for hours at a time, even on those rare days where he seems so tired and she cannot do anything right - still, she has a place here. Their twin gold and black suits become fixtures of the Bludhaven skylines.

It's across the dinner table that Steph realizes she might be able to get back into the game. Her father is loud, boisterous, after leaving prison. He doesn't think she can do anything about it.

She can.

After the first time, its tempting to try a second, third. Rolling into bars with a licence that gives her a few more years, chatting up men who have lips too loose. Other times, she calls up wives, asks about schedules for a date nights or when their kids will need daycare, mapping out plans and places. In the beginning she sent these files to the GCPD, for all the good they'd do. Later, she gives them to Damian, a stack of neatly arranged notes and observations that he pours through with all the seriousness of a monk. There's something important in the first time she calls up Cass and asks her to follow up on a lead. She comes by her home later, with a hello and a fruit tart.

When she asks her what she calls herself in the field, Stephanie shrugs. She keeps a lot of different names - her own amongst them.

"The GCPD asked." Cassandra had said, one cold night. "You - you do the same thing now. That we did before. Differently, not like Robin, but still like one of us." There's a heavy pause that lingers for a moment, dull and heaving. "You should have a name."

And it might be silly, might be stupid, but Steph's been doing this long enough and seen enough plans fall apart because of the way that small details, when brought into the light, can bring a whole structure tumbling down. Spoiler is born, with a purple mask over dark fabric. It's a ceremonial thing, she'll admit, but it's the principal of the matter yanno?

Part 2 (ft. Babs) coming later. This is very much long enough.

Ages:

Duke: He starts vigilanting at 16, but as he hits his 19-20s he wants to put a little bit more distance between himself and Bruce - wants to prove himself as an individual who can bring to bear his own stregnths. His mother recovers, but his dad never really does - there's a heavy sense of grief, associating with him. They love his father, together, but while his mother does her own mourning he can't help but think it's premature. He's 20 when Batgirl comes around, and 23 when he agrees, tentatively, to work with Bruce on the outsiders.

Damian: Starts at 12, and is 16 once Batgirl starts. He's much more secure in his place, ironically, but Batman and Robin is a much lonlier job than it is in a sideways reality. Duke brings some light to the job, but once he starts trying to make his own way, things grow... quiet. And while the Titans are together for the purpose of combining their shared competencies for the sake of missions, Garth, he cannot deny that his time with them eases something in him that he didn't know was aching. After he turns 18 - after it seems all his time with Robin was actually Bruce's, after years of chafing under a heavy-handing authority he's not certain he still respects, he finally decides to create something new. Nightwing is born, from a Kryptonian legend, and he leaves Robin behind to become this new thing.

Steph starts Batgirl at twelve, and is Robin halfway through fourteen. She keeps it for two years, before it falls apart at 16. Spoiler is born a year later, when she's seventeen and looks nonthreatening, but can be the exact opposite.

Cass: Starts doing vigilante work... very young. By the time she's caught up with the Bats, she's ten and experienced, and its only a few more months before Steph joins them. She takes up Batgirl at twelve, and keeps it all the way through to twenty-one, when it finally comes time to pass it down again, to evolve into something new.

[hello-eden]

My Reverse Robins AU.

Terry Wayne -32-Antihero- Batwing

Helena Kyle Wayne -30- Thief- Stray

Anastasia al ghul-28- assassin- Viper

 Carrie Kelly -26- hero- Blue jay

 Matt wanye-23- hero- Nightwing

 Alexandria / female damian al ghul-23- hero- Swallow

Stephanie Brown-21- antihero- Red Hood

 Tim Drake -21- hero- Oracle

 Duke thomas -17- hero- Signal

 Cassandra cain-15- hero- Secret

 Jason todd -15- hero- Shadow

 Richard grayson-12- hero- Robin

 Barbara gordon -11- hero- Batgirl 

-The gender bend Damien is caused by my Pinterest.

 the mantle Robin is called shadow in this AU 

 I do know Terry and Matt are mcginnis's but in this one they are just called wayne

The ages that I have applied are just the base ages that I used for my math 

If anyone wants to write my AU I give you my permission.

I do know if I'm doing reverse Matt should be older but by the time I realized by mistake I was too far in so just ignore that.-

My reverse Robins AU story

 Terry and Matt were originally created due to a super soldier program. That the government used Batman's DNA for. Bruce found them and they were the original children taken in.  Matt is the original one to create the title of shadow. He shares it with Terry. 

Anastasia was created the normal way through Talia and Bruce, Alexandria was a biological experiment to be a backup heir. Alex and Matt call each other twins due to being born two weeks apart. Anastasia had already gone on League missions so she had a harder time conforming to the rules but she is very close with Terry while Alex had not gone on any League missions but did have the training.  Anastasia goes by the name Viper which was her League name then it turned into her hero name but she later went back to being an assassin after she killed Joker for Stephanie and got into a fight with her father. Alex shares the name shadow with Matt after Terry takes the name batwing.

Selena got into a lot of trouble and needed to give Helena to Bruce. Bruce only has sole custody for about a year and a half before they do split custody once everything is settled. Helena takes the name Stray to honor her mother. Helena is originally a hero with the rest of her siblings But becomes a thief like her mother after she separates from the family when Stephanie dies due to grief. she does come back.

 Carrie is a child vigilante inspired by shadow. She is not adopted until she is 16  when her guardian dies in a car accident. She ends up being quite close with Terry, Helena and Anastasia.

Tim and Stephanie are friends with Matt  and Alex. They go to Gotham Academy together.They are introduced to vigilante life due to a kidnapping accident involving the four. Stephanie still takes the name spoiler and Tim ends up using  the mantle shadow when Alex is injured. Stephanie ends up being the one that dies and Tim was tortured to be Joker junior not even a week after she was killed. due to the torture Tim is wheelchair-bound. Stephanie's death causes a major Rift in the family which leads to Terry, Helena and Anastasia not talking to Bruce. Matt still talks to Bruce but he ends up moving to bludhaven at 17 while Alex stays at the Manor to take care of Cass while Bruce is grieving.Due to Alex being the only one at the Manor She ends up being close to Tim(which I specifically wrote in to be ironic)The League of Assassins do resurrect Stephanie though there is no big reveal due to the fact that Anastasia is working with her mother when Stephanie is Resurrected though she was not in on the resurrection. Stephanie comes back to be red hood and feels detached from the family due to Bruce Kicking Anastasia out for the Joker's death. Tim ends up taking the name Oracle to help Anastasia due to their not being as many vigilantes in Gotham then there was before Stephanie died due to the big fight. 

Cassandra has her usual backstory but she's brought into the family before Stephanie is killed. Cassandra ends up taking the name Secret due to her secretly following Batman and the rest of the vigilantes on patrol before she was adopted into the family. 

Bruce ends up fostering Duke after failing to save his parents from a joker attack and takes him in due to guilt. Duke is the first one to be taken in after Stephanie's death so there are a lot of funny interactions with him having no idea how the family was before and meeting the older siblings. Duke later finds out about Bruce being Batman and the rest of the vigilantes being his children then takes on the name Signal. 

Jason is taken in the same way as before hitting Bruce with the tire iron and everything. Jason ends up being shadow and also being the only Shadow to work Solo due to their usually being two Shadows. Jason is the one that ends up bringing Bruce back from being Lost in Time.

 Richard is taken in the same way as well. Richard ends up taking the name Robin to honor his parents instead of the name shadow.Richard is taken in for about half a year before Batman has lost in time.Richard feels very cursed with losing parental figures back to back but he does end up getting very close to Alexandria before Batman comes back.

Barbara becomes friends with Richard at school and later goes out as Batgirl.

[transmothofaman]

Batfam AU

Okay so I have only come across one or two reverse!robin posts and don’t know how original these takes are. But whilst weeding i couldn’t help but think about the Batfam’s dynamics and how that would be altered, so I decided to dump a few hcs below (in order of appearance):

1. Duke Thomas: On paper, not much of his origin story really changes. Still has powers, is still Signal, still led something akin to the We Are Robin movement (except it wouldn’t be called that, because ‘Robin’ doesn’t exist yet), and still is part of The Outsiders. He is the first superhero/vigilante to really work with Batman on a regular basis, which of course is a struggle in of itself. He’s no sidekick by any means, but his help when needed becomes vital to Batman and helps the bat become more lenient to working with people.

2. Damian Al-Ghul Wayne: while Damian would have no older siblings constantly at the manor to be jealous of, I think his snobby attitude of instantaneously deserving the Batman mantle is something he still struggles with. He doesn’t really come up with a hero code-name for himself early on in his career (he thinks it’s beneath him); but goons and innocent civilians alike make comments about how he’s always lurking in the shadows and nickname him The Shadow. The nickname sticks, and many a joke can be made about Batman and his Shadow. (if anyone has a better hero name for Damian pls let me know)

3. Cassandra Cain (Wayne): her backstory and such remains the same, except she’s the one who created the mantle of Batgirl (which, of course, looks different from Barabra Gordon’s original batgirl). She’s the first of Bruce Wayne’s adopted children, and I personally don’t think their bond would differ any more than it would from canon. Because she’s introduced earlier in B’s life and can bring out a softer side of the dark knight, Batman’s relationship with the kids that follow are slightly shifted.

4. Timothy Drake: meets Batman because he kept trespassing on Wayne Manor property. Tim has been stalking Batman, figured out his identity, and wants to fill in the vacant spot left by a recently departed Damian [who either A) went rogue B) went off to partner with Jon or C) formed his version of the teen titans, dealer’s choice]. Batman, while comfortable enough with having Batgirl and Signal as assistance covering patrols or messy cases, is at first hesitant to have another constant “sidekick”, but eventually comes around to the idea. Tim would have his own cool name but I’m not that creative.

I didn’t want to dump Jason’s trauma on Tim now that he becomes the second son, but narratively I do think he would’ve ended up dying as well (if so, it’s because Joker Junior was fatal). Yes he ofc comes back, probably angry, but Tim is NOT Jason and will have different reactions/ ways to cope with that.

5. Stephanie Brown : Steph gets introduced mid-Tim’s sidekick run. I don’t think her lore would change much really, you’re doing great sweetie.

6. Jason Todd: Jason meets Batman the same way he meets him in canon, except this time Batman’s trying to cope with loosing Tim and his failed partnership with Stephanie (she’s killing it as Cass’ partner though), but decides to recruit and later adopt Jason anyways. Jason would take on Tim’s old mantle, but I think he would eventually carve out his own vigilante identity when he got older. He still becomes Red Hood after a very rough falling out with Bruce, but like in canon they’re slowly able to rebuild their relationship.

7. Dick Grayson: our boy wonder gets introduced in the same manor as in canon, he just does it later when Bruce has already gotten a bunch of kids. He still creates the outfit and mantle of Robin, and becomes Batman’s new main partner-in-crime fighting.

8. Barbara Gordon: Her overall dynamic with the other bats would change from canon (it would be her looking up to Cass and Steph rather than the other way around). I think she and Dick would have the same dynamic as in The Batman (2004).

I haven’t read every bat-related comic ever and would love to hear any thoughts/suggested changes you all have! Thanks for reading this monstrosity of a post!

[havendance]

Okay, I'm finally returning to the AU where Jason and Barbara are swapped so that she dies in a Killing Joker and Jason is paralyzed in A death in the family.

The simplest way to set up this AU (and why over-complicate things yet?) is to have it so that when Barbara Gordon opens the door, the Joker shoots to kill. However long later, when Jason is beaten half to death by the Joker, he survives the bomb, but he’s left paralyzed from the waist down. The Doctors say he’ll never walk again.

For now, Barbara Gordon is dead and we shall leave her there. She doesn’t haunt the narrative in the same way that Jason did. She was an adult when she died, removed from her former mantle. She wasn’t Bruce’s daughter. Her death weighs on Gordon, but then Sarah Essen returns to his life and his dead daughter fades into the background. Bruce, Dick, and Jason remember her, but there is no Batgirl memorial in the cave. She is just another symbol of the dangers they face. She comes up in vague aborted references and heavy silences.

(Now that I think about it, in a world where Barbara Gordon’s dead, I bet Helena ends up as Dick’s second primary love interest…)

Meanwhile, with Jason, we have a fairly standard Jason Lives!AU with the slight caveat that he’s in a wheelchair and can never become Robin again.

We’re not going to spend long on that because it could go any number of ways and I don’t want to be here all day, but to his some major points:

A Lonely Place of Dying doesn’t get triggered. Batman without Robin when Jason is paralyzed is worse, but not bad enough for Tim to feel the need to interfere. His parents probably still die in Rites of Passage because Batman is highly unlikely to leave Gotham to chase after some random kidnapping for ransom when he’s being overprotective of his recently paralyzed son. Or just have the Drakes die in a plane crash and skip the racism.

Jason as Robin is a character who doesn’t have many ties outside of Batman. Stuck in a wheelchair, he struggles even more with dilation. Barbara’s dead. Dick’s around more, but he still spends most of his time with the titans. He can’t be Robin and that means that he feels like he can’t be part of that community, losing the few connections he had there. On the civilian front, his injuries lead him to being held back a year. He doesn’t know any of his classmates, and stuck in the hormonal battleground of high school, he acutely feels the way that being stuck in a wheelchair makes him different.

I still need to read Oracle: Year One, but Jason is initially attracted to computers because of the anonymity the internet offers. On it, he can pretend to be normal; people don’t see the chair before they see him. From there, it expands into a way he can still help Bruce and be involved in the mission. Bruce says he doesn’t need to do anything, but with so much of their relationship tied up in being Batman and Robin, Jason wants to.

There is another Robin eventually. Dealer’s choice as to who. You can make an argument for Tim (the classic option), Steph (Girl power + Steph & Jason friendship) or, I don’t know, Lonnie ( I know he has fans, though, in full disclosure, I am ambivalent towards him). Whoever the choice, it’s alternatively important that they have the approval of both Dick, who originated the mantle, and Jason, who left it vacant.

But that’s enough about Jason. You want to know who I really want to talk about in this AU? You guessed it! Helena Bertinelli and Cassandra Cain.

It’s time for No Man’s Land baby~ (absolutely no one is surprised.)

Bruce leaves on an international guilt trip and brings his son with him, much to Jason’s annoyance. It’s over three months before he’s able to convince Bruce to return, and even then it’s only on the condition that Jason enrolls in a boarding school where it’s safe. (Jason is so looking forward to turning 18 when he can finally prove to Bruce that he can take care of himself.)

Meanwhile, Huntress is the sole vigilante presence in No Man's Land. It isn’t long before she recognizes the limits of her own mantle and takes on the mantle of the Bat. In this universe, she is called Batwoman.

It is as Batwoman that she runs into Cassandra, who has been living on the streets of Gotham.

No wait, better idea. Headcanon time: In between acting as two separate vigilantes, Helena also somehow finds the time to run a makeshift classroom for some of the kids stranded in No Man's Land. She recruits them to do odd jobs and in exchange,, she shares some of the food she has stashed wavy and tries to make sure they have at least some education. 

Cassandra is curious and comes first for the food and then for the stories and the reading/writing lessons she doesn’t understand. When she sees Batwoman for the first time and makes the connection, she becomes even more intrigued.

When Batman enters and starts working with Helena, Cassandra saves them both in a handmade costume and ends up as the new Batgirl.

Helena remains as Batwoman after the end of No Man’s Land in this AU. She misses being the Huntress, at the end, but she has Cass to look after now. They grew close in the chaos of No Man’s Land and now the girl’s moved in with her. Helena needs to be better for Cass. She can’t go back to killing because, on one level, Cass wouldn’t let her. On another, she doesn’t want to betray her trust. So she holds the line. She stops her more self-destructive tendencies and tries to do the best for Cass despite the fact that she doesn’t understand her on a fundamental level.

This all leads to her being a more integrated part of the batfam. She's featured in more Bat comics and plays a major supporting role in Batgirl.

Post-No Man’s Land, Jason turns 18, moves off to college, and starts his own Birds of Prey type team. Bruce stalks him, Jason yells at him for it, etc etc.

And now, we’ve arrived at the moment you’ve all been waiting for: Red Hood!Barbara Gordon!

Barbara Gordon’s Under the Red Hood arc is a narrative commentary on fridging and is ideally written by a female author. In this universe, Barbara Gordon was a character who was killed off and vanishes from the narrative. She was a thing pre-crisis but never really a presence post. She is a tombstone next to Sarah Essen. A name mentioned when arguing about the Joker, quickly forgotten to focus on his paralyzing of Jason.

She comes back loud and angry, insisting on being remembered. Look at me, she shouts. Look at my pain. My story should be about me. She sets up a series of circumstances and clues all point to her. To the terrible things that happened to her. Bruce and Gordon have made her death about them, she’s taking it back. Reclaiming it for herself.

She also torments and antagonizes Helena and Cass. They replaced her, they took her place. They don't even know what they've done. They are the first to see her face and they don’t even recognize her. They don’t know the legacy they have claimed. Barbara Gordon rages.

And then, of course, future writers ruin that shining star of an arc by making her ~evil~ and ~crazy~. It’s probably all because coming back from the dead made her infertile and she can’t ever be a mother. Women, am I right? (eyeroll)

Anyway, I want a Red Hood!Barbara Gordon arc now.

[bitterrobin]

a TAXONOMY!verse summary

since I realized that I haven't actually given a summary or a main post about the au that actually explains the thing.

The TAXONOMY!verse (or the Flamebird-in-Gotham au) is an au that centers around Bette Kane and Damian Wayne's introduction into the 2009/2011 Batman era, where Bruce is "dead", mantles are shifted, and the entire Batfamily and Gotham goes through changes. It is entirely self-indulgent but also a genuine attempt at including characters I like into storylines that could be made better.

Bette's comic history will be acknowledged and streamlined a little as she enters Gotham and is plunged into the chaos. Damian's storyline as of the 2009 era stays mostly the same, but the background context of his life and childhood changes drastically. I'm bringing Son of the Demon back into continuity and completely scrapping/rewriting the Resurrection of Ras al Ghul storyline through dialogue, flashback and inner monologue. The bodysnatching-possession plot is still revealed to Talia and Damian though, spurring them both to separate from the League. (BTW Ras is still dead, but doesn't mean Nyssa or Dusan aren't around and plotting). I'm also taking pre-Morrison Talia al Ghul back into the fold and trying my best to re-contextualize Damian's childhood with her different characterization.

the first fic that I'm currently working on is CHIROPTERA - a Battle for the Cowl (2009) full rewrite.

While Dick still becomes Batman as in canon, it doesn't last for long as the "Battle" shifts from a city-wide disaster into a personal/philosophical slug-fest between Cassandra Cain and Jason Todd as the family splits and debates who carries the Batman mantle and who restores the city. Dick is reluctant to let anyone shoulder the burden, Tim is insistent that Gotham needs a Batman, Stephanie is trying her best to not get dragged into things but is tempted to be a vigilante again, Barbara just wants to get Gotham back into control, and the various rogues of the city are all vying for their own regime change. Basically, everyone's struggling, grieving, and like this close to punching people around them.

In the midst of this, Damian arrives in Gotham for the second time in his life. Because I'm changing Resurrection of Ras al Ghul, Damian has never met Dick Grayson before and he doesn't get any additional time with Bruce before his death. His relationships with Dick and Alfred are not going to be the same. Tim stays Robin as Damian doesn't trust Dick or Alfred enough yet to meet with them, but there's still a lot of conflict between them as Tim does not trust the kid one bit and Damian refuses to correct him.

A couple years have passed since Bette's time in LA with Beast Boy, and after another Titans West revival falls through, she decides to reconnect with her family and help out in Gotham after being informed of Bruce's death. Bette wants to prove herself in a dangerous city and rebuild her image with the side of the hero community that still doesn't acknowledge her. Damian wants a glimpse into the life of a father he never got to know, while still reeling from the betrayal of a grandfather he thought loved him and a League that's really gone off the rails and is trying to get him back.

Bette and Damian meet by accident, and Bette takes on the difficult mentorship role while Damian begrudgingly follows her around a city they're both unfamiliar with. He doesn't really get his own vigilante identity until circumstances call for his involvement with the wider batfam. Tom Bronson is also there, getting into the Gotham chaos after leaving the JSA and becoming attached to Damian and Bette. Alongside him, there will be cameos of Maxine Hunkel, Rory Regan, and Charlie Gage-Radcliffe. Charlie specifically will be getting more plot relevance as she involves herself into things, and the later parts of the au are plotted out.

Inevitably, Cass becomes Batman by the end - giving Batgirl to Stephanie (her own decision, not Bruce's). Jason goes back to Red Hood, but maybe a little changed by their struggle (not too much though, Jason works best when he's still villain-flavored). Dick reverts to Nightwing and Tim takes up as Robin by Cass's side.

CHIROPTERA is fairly simple and hopefully, won't be too long of a fic considering how short the Battle for the Cowl comics are.

Of course, the family can never not be drowning in interpersonal conflict or outside chaos, so this au will not stop at Battle for the Cowl.

I have plans for Batman and Robin 2009, Streets of Gotham, Gates of Gotham, Bruce's return and the almighty void that is Batman Inc's Leviathan arc. Oh boy, do I have thoughts about Leviathan and Damian's death.

Ending this to say that all of the other bat family/bat-related characters that aren't Bette and Damian will be getting researched.

Any characterization ideas specifically for the 2009 era would be appreciated, since I have not read every comic leading up to Final Crisis/Bruce's death.

[just-an-enby-lemon]

Batfam age reverse AU:

- Damian Al Ghur Wayne is the adoptive son of Thomas and Martha Wayne, the biological lost son of Ra's and has the tittle of Batman.

- Duke Thomas is the first Robin [he got the tittle from his adoptive dad (though he does not know his dad isn't his biodad)], becoming Batman partner after impressing Damian by trying to defeat the Riddler by himself at age eleven and almost succeding. He is the first and only exception to the no metas rule (a rule that isn't Batman's in any media, but that it's Gothams in a sense, the city belives in no metas in the batfam and Gotham almost always gets it's way) and was adopted by Damian after his mom was infected by Joker toxin. After having a fight with Damian about his mom possible recuperation he becames his own hero, The Signal. Protecting Gotham at day.

- Cassandra Cain was Damian second kid. She was a child assassin who he rescued and took under his wing, partialy because he knew if not for his sister, Thalia, that would've been his life in the Order of Assassins. She mostly talks by sign language and non-verbal comunication even though she can speak. Her superhero debut was Orphan, but as she started to fell like part of the family it didn't fit her anymore, instead she went by Black Bat. After Steph was shot, Cass used the tittle of Batgirl for a while to honor her best friend (and future gf).

- Tim Drake is the second Robin. A smart little stalker that forced Damian's hand. The two of them didn't had the best relashionship at the start, but it improved a lot with time. He was adopted by Damian and they were very close until Tim was tricked by the Joker and murdered. He came back, but thanks to the Lazarus Pit he was never the same. Becaming the Red Hood, a cold logician who will do anything for what he considers the greater good. He started as a vilan, but since has rekindle his relashiomship with the family and turned into an anti-hero.

- Stephanie Brown was Tim's best friend and acted together with the Batfamily as Batgirl to try to alert Batman against her supervilan father. After Tim's death she temporarily taked the Robin mantle to honor him. While babysitting young Barbara Gordon she was attacked by the Joker and started to use an wellchair, starting Barbara into the path of Batgirl. After that she became the all-seeing Spoiler.

- Jason Tood was the official thrid Robin - though Steph contests the tittle. Damian found him stealing the tires of the Batmobile and couldn't stop being impressed. After a mental debate he decided to let the kid go as Batman and adopt him as Damian, as he wasn't ready for a new Robin after Tim (specially with the added bonus of Stephanie injury). It didn't work. Jason discovered the Batcave and somehow convinced Damian into becoming Robin. Nowdays he goes by Bluejay, choosing to pass the title to Dick and it's the atual leader of the Teen Titans (a tittle he inherited from Duke).

- Dick Grayson was the forth Robin and indiscutibly Damian's favorite. Being playfull, loyal and genuine and loving his family very much. Adopting another child was not what Damian intended when he took Jason and Barbara to a nice nigth in the circus but life had other plans and after the death of the Graysons there was NO WAY Damian was letting the kid with social workers. Besides the Robin mantle seemed to be made for him, the kid had a previous emotional conection to the name and fited the description "ligth to Batman's darknes" in a way only Duke had truly suceeded before. Jason says he gave Dick the name because he wanted to be something more than Batman's sidekick but Damin knows there is a story there. The truth is that Jason was the one that found Dick after he run away looking for the man who killed his parents and after seeing the kid almost get killed he decides that Dick needed Robin more than him.

- Barbara Gordon is the third Batgirl and the daugther of the aways helpfull Comissioner James Gordon. She was aways struck by Batman heroism and had a growing suspicion of his identity, but it was only after Stephanie Brown took a bullet to save her that she decided to confront Damian and promisses to honor Steph by one day becaming a hero. Stephanie gladly gave Barb the tittle of Batgirl.

- Bruce Wayne is the youngest batkid. A clone created by Lex Luthor using both Damian and Thomas Wayne DNA. Bruce is the closest Damian has to a biokid. He was found when the Justice League was investigating Cadmus, based on Superboy remembering a young child. He has problems adapting to normal life, is very shy and works better with Cass. He also acts as Superboy baby brother more than not. While Damian don't think he needs more kids in speedos, Bruce still became Batboy.

[redjaybathood]

Possible prompt if you're still doing those:

Reverse Robin AU member/members meeting the canon Batfam member/members.

I usually don't go to the default Damian one and instead invert the first four Robins, IE:

Stephanie Wayne, the first Spoiler, now Knight-Hawk and heiress to Wayne Inc, she and Bruce have a weirdly good relationship, though she concedes this is cos her standards were 'low' which helped give him a learning curve.

Tim Drake, briefly Spoiler before the Court of Owls killed his family& tried to make him a Talon to learn Batman's identity, went off the trails for revenge for a bit.

Jason Wayne, the third Spoiler, now Nocturn, intends to study medicine and take over Wayne Foundation one day, tiny nerd.

Dick Grayson, temporarily Spoiler for training, but actually still has Mary Grayson and usually goes by Robin, argues with Bruce a lot in a "You're not my dad" context.

Feel free to ignore this, but I enjoy dabbling in this concept, but can never think of anything to do with it beyond thought experiments.

Yeah I am really digging the reversal between Steph and Dick, and how every kid starts as Spoiler, continuing her tradition now.

I bet Tim killed the heck out of Court of Owls but at the same time, he did it in a way that can't actually be tied to him. It's a fuck you to both the Owls (who wanted him as their pet assassin; well, he's not doing any murders by his hands, thanks) and Bruce because he cannot actually prove, with evidence, that it's Tim.

Curious choice of Jason's callsign. Is it maybe because before Bruce took him in, he was adopted by Natalia Knight? She felt kinship with Jason, whose childhood on the streets was similar to hers. She took him in, and though she told him the truth about what she was doing, she never let him get involved. Unfortunately, her brother felt threatened by Jason's presence, seeing him as a sign that he wasn't the most important person for her anymore. Long story short and several murder attempts later, Natalie was stabbed and had to flee Gotham, and Bruce ended up taking Jason in. After his time as Spoiler, Jason relinquished the mantle to the next one in line, choosing a name that honoured his adoptive mother.

By the way, I think Damian should be the youngest, still. Because if he is the oldest kid, then how old is Bruce? So as Damian arrives, Dick ditches the Spoiler in favour of Robin and Damian becomes the Spoiler.

Duke became a part of Batfam during No Man's Land. He and his parents got separated during an evacuation, and he created an information hub out of deserted Clock Tower. Not knowing, initially, that it already had one resident: Batgirl. He just showed up, hooked some equipment (okay it was much complicated than that). Everyone knew that if you wanted to sell or trade information, or if you wanted to find someone, that's where to go. After the No Man's Land situation was resolved, Duke kept at it, becoming Oracle. He used the information he got to foil Riddler, Joker, and others before they even had a chance to implement their plans. Eventually, he became a target, and that's how he discovered his awesome Light-based powers and became a Signal.

Cassandra, on another hand, is the OG Batgirl. She was around since the same time, more or less, as Batman had been. Small difference: she was adopted by Jim Gordon and has a little sister Barbara who looks up to her (and will become the next Batgirl).

Oh. And in this case, Batwoman was the first vigilante in Gotham. Freshly discharged from the army, she used her training to help people in a way she could. Bruce was kinda following in his cousin footsteps, though as he didn't have an army background, he had to go on a tour to find teachers.

Sorry, that's me babbling. But I really like the concept! If you start posting it, let me know!

[purple-goo-writes]

BatBug adventures

Brucinette Brady bunch/Married by the dozen au Vigilante Edition. No miraculous Au! MAGIC STILL EXISTS THO.

So my rambles got long.. and I'm on mobile. Sorry.

Like the things that happen in ML happen later to match up with Batmans origins. Though everyone in ML are still their same ages but Marinette is an adult or young adult when she takes the mantle Ladybug.

Ladybug being a mantle passed down through her mother's family, as the head of the Cheng family and it's kinda a magical legacy aka the powers of creation and luck.

So in this au Gabriel kinda goes around the bend Mr. Freeze style except he is trying to use magic to bring his wife back. And runs basically an underground mafia in order to find a way to bring her back and develops a serum called Akuma that is supposed to unlock a person's magical potential/give them powers but he doesnt want to test it on himself.

So he uses the innocent people of Paris to test his magical serum turning them into instant villains.

Anyway like ML is a little darker, or a lot darker then canon.

Like Gabriel experiments on his own son turning him into a juggernaut kinda dark.

Wang Fu is Marinette's grandfather and trains her to take on the Ladybug mantle when she shows creation magic after the magic skips her mother, Sabine. So when a family friend of hers, Nino (in this he is her cousin Bridgette's boyfriend), is targeted by Hawkmoth and transformed into a monstrous Akuma. She becomes Ladybug after discovering her creation magic helps counteract the corrupted magic of the serum.

Anyway, Mari takes him down eventually.

Meets David Cain.

Instead of Cassandra being Lady Shiva's mother it's Marrinette.

And let me tell you when she finds out that David wishes to use Cassandra as a soldier and all the shit he has been teaching her behind Mari's back. Let's just say Mominette let's out a can of whoop ass on him.

Moves to Gotham to get away from all the shit that went down in Paris now that Gabriel and his mob is taken care of.

Reappears as Ladybird not long after Batman appears when she learns that someone got ahold of the Akuma formula and it's now circulating in the Underground.

So Her and Bats are currently at odds with each other due to Bats not liking a foriegn vigilante operating in his city.

So there is a bit of a faud/sexual tension thing going on between them as she tries to find the source of the new Akumas and he tries to capture her and get her out of his city.

Also Cassandra is like near Dicks age in this so she becomes Ladybird's sidekick Mantis.

Also adoption wars anyone? Like Bats still adopts Dick. he adopts Jason and Ladybird adopts Stephanie. Barbara still becomes Batgirl and then Oracle.

Marinette adopts Tim and Duke.

Stephanie becomes Spoiler then becomes Arachne after exposure to the Akuma formula leaves her with powers.

Duke still becomes signal but his costume is more insect then bat.

Tim probably becomes Monarch or Killer Bee.

Eventually Bats and LB end up doing the horizontal tango where they realize they know each other outside the suit. Because Marinette owns and runs her own fashion line, MDC and is crazy rich. And they are business partners lol.

The thing with Talia still happens. Aka the roofieing Bruce and having his baby.

But also Marinette falls preggers as well after a few too many romps in the sheets with Batsy.

So instead of Helena being a Selina/Bruce baby she is the Mari/Bruce baby in this. Cause while Selina and Bruce had a little bit of a fling going on, it didnt last long due to Ladybird coming into the scene.

And Marinette Dupain-Cheng becomes Marinette Wayne and the Nest is moved to join the Batcave.

And then Damian gets dropped off with Bruce when he is Ten like Canon except now he has a ten year old sister to compete with along with a slew of siblings.

And it's a healthier Batfam simply due to Marinette and her adopting like half of them.

Also bonus because I find it funny.

Marinette had a fling with Deathstroke (Slade Wilson) a while back and he fights Bats to see if the vigilante is worthy if Mari.

[teentitanimals]

Helena Kyle-Wayne History

The history of Helena Kyle-Wayne based on how I see her! Ties into this Events Timeline :) I might call this Batfam au Earth Never? Maybe? I’m kinda already attached to the name lol

Helena Martha Maria Wayne was born to Bruce Wayne, age 42, and Selina Kyle, age 45, on Earth Never-Two. Her grandfather Alfred Pennyworth was 67, her half-brother Damian Wayne was 13, her adopted brother Tim Drake was 21, her adopted brother and sister Jason Todd and Cassandra Cain were 24, and her adopted brother Dick Grayson was 29. Growing up she learned acrobatics from her eldest brother, how to hold a gun from Jason, how to be silent by her sister, hacking from Tim, animal taming and katana wielding from her favorite brother Damian, how to defend herself from her father, and how to be sneaky from her mother. Needless to say, from a young age, she was pretty skilled, and being raised in a house of detectives, them attempting to keep their secret lives as vigilantes from her didn’t work, as she knew about it from the age of 6 and onwards. By age 14, she became the new Robin under her father.

She was best friends with Kara Kent, aka Supergirl, who was a few years older than her, and Charles Bullock, aka Blackwing, who was also a few years older than her, and was an intern at the law firm created by her father, her eldest brother and a man named Arthur Cranston, aptly named the Cranston, Grayson and Wayne consumer research firm. The three made an excellent team, and were practically inseparable.

Aside from Kara and Charles, though, Helena greatly looked up to the woman who shared her name, Helena Bertinelli, aka the Huntress. This earned Helena the affectionate name of Little H, or Little Huntress, from Bertinelli and others. Helena as Robin often ended up shadowing Huntress more than Batman. She also got along really well with Charlotte “Charlie” Gage-Radcliffe, a young adult who was like a daughter to Bertinelli. It should be noted that the Birds of Prey never existed in this universe, and Barbara Gordon never became a superhero. In this universe, Charlie mimicked the identity of Huntress rather than Batgirl, before creating her own as Misfit. No Batgirls exist in this universe, but Stephanie Brown still became Spoiler- never Robin, Cassandra Cain simply became Black Bat and then Orphan, and Bette Kane never became a superhero, nor did Carrie Kelley, Tiffany Fox or Nell Little.

At one point, a man named Silky Cernak tried to blackmail and frame her mother for killing a cop as Catwoman, but with her and her family’s help, they cleared her name and revealed the truth, arresting Silky.

Eventually, when Helena was 16, a war against Apokoliptians, lead by Darkseid, started, which resulted in a war torn world. Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman were all killed during the war, as well as Tim Drake and Helena Bertinelli. Her family grieves them, and Dick takes up the mantle of Batman, and Damian makes his new superhero alias Redwing, a combination of Red Robin and Nightwing in honor of his brothers. Charlie became the new Huntress. By age 18, everything had way gotten worse, and Charlie was killed, and Selina soon followed. Helena then became Huntress, while Kara became Power Girl.

At age 20, she, Kara and Charles chased after someone who they assumed was Darkseid, but they would later find out was DeSaad. The trio attacked DeSaad, but in the process Helena entered a Boom Tube while Power Girl and Blackwing fought DeSaad. Helena would never know how the battle ended, though, as the Boom Tube sent her to Earth Never-Prime. She was stranded, and alone, in a world so similar to her own, but not war torn, and just slightly off. She was a Bat though, and she was well-trained. She laid low and studied the world, learning that Batman was still Bruce Wayne here- and that Bruce Wayne was still 42. And that she had never been (or simply yet to be) born, as Bruce and Selina were not even married like they were in her world, with Selina still acting as the criminal Catwoman. In this world, Darkseid had been defeated already.

She stole money from Wayne Enterprises to get by, just for meals, hotels, clean clothes, etc. Scrounging through Wikipedias can only get you so far, so she took to spying on her family and friends and other superheroes and... finds that she can’t handle it. For the most part, they look so happy. Yeah, Jason’s an asshole, and Damian’s so young and angst-y, but... They’re a family, not split by death and war. Every night, she seems to end up in tears, jealous of this world and wanting her world back- no, her family.

Her secrecy does not last long, as she can’t stop herself from jumping in to help her family (Batman, Robin, Nightwing) when they are attacked by the Joker. She attempts to run away after the battle, but her moves and tricks are the exact same as the Batfamily’s, so it ends up impossible for her to lose them. They interrogate her, and she ends up confessing she’s not from this universe. She tells them she’s a Huntress of another world, but not much else. They’re skeptical of her, seeing as the moves she used would indicate she was close enough to train under and with the Batfamily, so why would she be ‘a’ Huntress (of which they’ve only ever had one)? She asks if they could go to the Batcave or somewhere to talk, instead of staying out in the city. They agree, and ask her to lead them to the Batcave, which she does with ease.

There, she confesses more of her story, revealing she was the daughter of Selina and Bruce, and that Darkseid was currently waging war on her world- and winning. She allows them to run a DNA test on her, and the results match up. They believe her story. They offer to help her get back to her own world and also to house her while she’s here. She thanks them, and offers to help them patrol and protect Gotham in return.

Living in Wayne Manor was... weird, and more often than not she’d end up crashing at a hotel or something instead. Damian was 13, younger than her, and still very... well, Damian. And there was a kid that had never been apart of her family too, Duke Thomas, and also allies like Harper Row, Julia Pennyworth, Barbara Gordon, etc... And it was weird living among, to her, ghosts. Zombies. Dead people. She was afraid to get attached to any of them, because they weren’t hers, and she’d go back home, where some were dead or dying, and she’d mourn them all over again. Not to mention, Tim was now only 1 year older than her, Jason and Cass 4, and Dick just 9 instead of 29.... And Dick was even married to an alien princess named Koriand’r aka Starfire- where he was Barbara’s boyfriend in Helena’s world- and they had a daughter named Mar’i. And Jason had adopted a girl named Sasha, aka Scarlet. And, also, perhaps this stung most, that her best friend was no longer the same age as Helena. Which meant that even if Helena had been born in this world, she wouldn’t have been Kara’s friend. And similar with Charles, who was a simple citizen in this world.

While talking to this world’s version of her mother, Selina reveals to her that a Helena had been born in this world, but her father was Sam Bradley Jr. (deceased), and she was born nine-ten years ago. Her name was Helena Kyle, but since Selina was under the alias Irena Dubrovna at the time, her legal name was Helena Dubrovna. She had brown hair and green eyes rather than the black hair and blue eyes Helena Wayne had. Helena is surprised to know of this universe ‘her’, although really it’s her other universe half-sister. She wants to meet her, but Selina explains to her that after the villains Film Freak and Angle Man kidnapped and harmed Helena Kyle, she, Zatanna, and Bruce faked Helena’s death (and Irena Dubrovna’s) and put her up for adoption. To make sure no one could ever find Helena via Selina, Selina choose not to know who adopted her (if she officially got adopted at all and was not still in an orphanage). Helena Wayne accepts this and understands her reasoning. Even she had been kidnapped plenty of times back in her home world, Earth Never-Two.

It’s a year of living like this. She talks with the Selina Kyle of this world, with Helena Bertinelli, with Zatanna Zatara, with everybody. She still closes herself off though, calling Bruce “Uncle Bruce” to distance him and her father in her mind. By the end of the year, a part of her realizes she’s never going back... and another part wonders why she would even want to. She could have happiness here. But, at the same time, to give up her friendships with Power Girl and Blackwing? (And what if they were dead by now?) It’s difficult, but finally, with the advice from her other universe family, she decides she wants to try making a life here, just in case she really never can go back. Of course, Bruce offers to adopt her, but Helena can’t bring herself to fully accept this world’s Bruce as her dad yet, nor could she handle being official, legal siblings with her brothers and sister. She still hasn’t adjusted to them, how they are now, how young they all are, how younger Damian is. If anything, she’s most okay with Duke Thomas, someone she had never met in her universe.

To her surprise, as they contemplate making her a fake civilian identity, Selina offers to adopt Helena. Helena, after thinking it over, accepts. She would not have as much hounding from the press, from the media, from the public, as she would if she was adopted into the Waynes. She would not have to deal with the weirdness that was her alternate universe siblings as much, living with Selina. (Not that she needed to live with Selina, she was 21, after all, but Selina had told her that she was welcome to crash in her house anytime- an offer she often took up on when the Manor was stressing her out.) Selina was still a criminal in this universe, but she only robbed banks from time to time, really, nothing major, and she was slowly becoming more hero and ally than superthief by the time Helena had come to this world. Selina had been dead for only 2 years to Helena, while Bruce had been for 4 years, and had died when Helena was young and not used to death. Bruce’s death had a bigger impact on her (alongside Tim and Bertinelli’s), but with Selina, it was easy to imagine she had simply been gone for two years.

So, Helena became Helena Martha Maria Kyle, adopted daughter of Selina Kyle. She slowly built herself a civilian life, working for a law firm under Wayne Enterprises in honor of her friend Charles and his job. And a superhero life, too, as the Huntress. Of course, since Bertilleni was also known as the Huntress, Helena often went by Little Hunt. They called her Little H and Little Huntress at first, but it reminded her too much of her old world, that she requested they use Little Hunt instead. It was similar, of course, but just different enough. Just like this world was compared to hers.

She worked solo, with Catwoman, with the Batfamily, and with the Birds of Prey mostly. It was a challenge, she would say, to adapt back into the old rules of “No Killing”... It’s a dark secret of hers that she became more ruthless ever since the death of her father, blood soaking her hands. But she was almost relieved to be back to No Killing- as, to her, it meant no war. No death. No pain.

Catwoman seemed to reform completely right alongside her, and the day Bruce proposed to Selina, Helena couldn’t be more happier. She was finally ready to be officially apart of the Waynes again. Selina married Bruce, and Helena took on the Wayne name, becoming Helena Martha Maria Kyle-Wayne, loud and proud. It was weird, but somehow she got used to Damian being younger- and boy did she discover how fun it was to tease him. And alongside that, she got two new younger sisters too, in the form of Carrie Kelley and Alina Shelley-Wayne. Her family, she will say, was much, much more bigger than it had ever been in her own world.

Eventually, as years passed, she found herself more attached to this world than her war torn world. She often wonders, if given the chance, would she still choose to go back to her old world, her old family? It’s a question she can never answer. And one she might not have too, as the Kara of Earth Never-Two would eventually find a way onto Earth Never-One.

Name: Helena Martha Marie Kyle-Wayne

Gender: Female (She/her)

Parents: Bruce Wayne (Biological father; legal step-father), Selina Kyle (Biological mother; legal adopted mother)

Adoptive Step-Siblings: Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Cassandra Cain, Tim Drake, Alina Wayne

Half-Siblings: Helena Kyle (Current name unknown), Damian Wayne

Adoptive Step-Nieces and Nephews: Sasha Todd, Mar’i Grayson, Jake Grayson, John Grayson II (on Earth Never-Two only)

Hair Color: Black

Hair Length: Long

Eye Color: Blue

Aliases: Robin, the Huntress

Nicknames: Helly, Hel, 'Lena, Hello Kitty, Little H, Little Huntress, Little Hunt

Robin Run: 4 years

Huntress Run: 4 years and ongoing

Reblogs appreciated <3

[two-baes]

Just gonna, leave this here for myself.

Main Batfam (ie; the ‘core’ fam) :

Athanasia - Sparrowhark - 14

Barbara - Batgirl - 29

Bruce - Batman - 42

Cassandra - Black Bat - 19

Claire - Gotham Girl - 18

Colin - (work in progress) - 14

Cullen - No superhero identity - 17

Damian - Robin - 14

Dick - Nightwing - 27

Duke - Signal - 16

Harper - Bluebird - 20

Helena W.- Huntress - 21

Jason - Red Hood - 22

Matt - (Flame) Robin - 13

Maya - Nobody - 15

Maxine - Oracle - 20

Stephanie - Spoiler - 19

Nissa - Batgirl - 16

Terry - Batman - 21

Tim - Red Robin - 18

Extended Batfam (ie; cousins / like family) :

Basil - Clayface - 37

Beth - Brightbat - 40

Bette - Flamebird - 24

Carrie K - ‘Robin’ - 13

Charlie - Misfit - 17

Helena B. - Huntress - 26

Jean-Paul - Azrael - 27

Kate - Batwoman - 40

Kitrina - Catgirl - 16

Luke - Batwing - 30

Maps (aka Mia) - No superhero identity (as of yet) - 14

Mary - Strix - 19 (physically)

Selina - Catwoman - 35

Tiffany - Sugar Glider - 12

Outer (ie; not quite Batfam but Batfam adjacent / Batfam friends) :

Calvin - Falcon/Falco (I’m undecided) - 31

Lonnie - Anarky - 20

M - Midnighter - 36

Tatsu - Katana - 33

Violet - Mother Panic - 21

Zatanna - 39

Other (ie; people I haven’t decided what to do with yet but they exist) ;

Lincoln (aka Thomas Jr) - Owlman - 39

Thomas - (currently undecided) - 62

----------------------------------------------

Breaking things down a bit - The inner fam ;

Dick, Jason, Tim, Cassandra, Harper & Cullen, and Maya have all been officially adopted by Bruce in this universe

More or less in that exact order.

They’ve all kept their respective last names, but will occasionally hyphenate and tack on ‘Wayne’ to the ends of them.

Maya was brought home one day by Damian, who insisted Bruce take her on as a ward. Bruce was more than happy to oblige, tho noting how close of a bond the two children already had (and how they were already referring to one another as ‘brother’ & ‘sister’), he decided to just adopted her.

Barbara and Stephanie are not adopted

Steph is however a ward.

Bruce did ask to adopt her but she feels that it would be too weird for her to be legally adopted, since her and Tim are dating. ---She is however, considered by most of the family (in particular Harper, Cullen, & Cassandra), to be an ‘honorary sibling’.

Barbara’s father is still very much alive, altho Gordon and Bruce often joke about shared custody. (Also Babs agrees with Steph in that it would make dating Dick awkward)

Bruce still thinks of them like his own, and they’re considered as a core part of the family by everyone else.

Both also have their own respective rooms at the manor. Steph because she lives there, and Babs because she visits so often.

Claire is more or less an unofficial ward of Bruce’s.

In this verse he took her in after the death of her brother, and has been helping her to get the help she needs to recover; she’s been healing slowly but surely.

She’s formed a close bond with Duke.

She’s been getting training so that she feels less inclined to use her powers and won’t shave any more years off her lifespan.

Duke and Colin, while not officially adopted by Bruce, are his wards

Duke’s parents are still alive (though Jokerized), in light of this Bruce has offered to adopt him, but Duke politely declined. The offer remains open should he ever change his mind, however.

Colin similarly has been made an offer to be adopted, but turned it down for unspecified reasons. (ie; I haven’t decided yet if I want to go the ‘Tiny Boyfriends’ route w/ Dami&Colin in this AU, so I’m holding off on making them adopted siblings)

Helena, Damian, and Athanasia are all biologically Bruce’s children

Helena is from the future (or at least a possible future) in which Bruce and Selina have a child together. She refuses to tell them what year she’s actually from, or reveal much about her timeline.

Damian is Bruce’s son by Talia. He came to live with Bruce when he was 10.

Athanasia is Bruce’s daughter by Talia, although she was more ‘created’ than ‘conceived’ (ie, very much like those spare clone babies Talia had floating that she showed to Damian in the comics).

For clarification, she isn’t a female-clone of Damian. Talia used a sample of her own DNA and a sample of Bruce’s to create a new embryo.

When Damian was sent off to join his father, Talia had Athanasia born; aged up to ten years old to match her brother. She kept her a secret, hidden from Bruce and Damian, training her in the ways of the league for the next three years, before having a change of heart and sending her daughter to meet her brother and father.

Terry, Matt, Nissa, and Max are all from a future timeline that was wiped from existence somehow, they managed to time travel back to the past to survive.

Terry and Matt are (because of genetic tampering done by Waller) biologically Bruce’s sons. Terry is aware of this information. Matt is not.

Since they didn’t arrive with them, Terry and Matt believed Nissa & Max had died. However it turned out that their device had been damaged somehow, causing the timing of their arrival to be off by a year.

Breaking things down further - The extended fam ;

Kate and Beth are identical twin sisters, and are Bruce’s cousins.

In this verse Beth recovers from her ‘Alice’ persona and adopts the mantle of ‘Brightbat’, working alongside Kate as a vigilante.

Bette is the youngest cousin of Kate, Beth, and Bruce.

Jean-Paul isn’t related to anyone, nor is he adopted by, or a ward of Bruce.

He does however work closely with the family, and is considered an extended part of it. He’s like an honorary cousin more or less.

Luke also isn’t related to anyone, but works closely with the batfamily, earning him a spot as an honorary member, even if he's not a part of the core family.

Tiffany is Luke's youngest sister.

She's taken to training with and helping him out on the field. Don't call her his sidekick though, she hates that.

Helena B. has close ties to the batfamily, although she isn’t part of the core family, she is always welcomed by them, and in turn will always aid them when they need it.

She’s particularly close w/ both Barbara & Dick, as well as Cass. She also gets along well with Jason.

Mary isn’t officially integrated as a part of the core family, but she does live with them, having been brought to the manor to live by Babs, who she has grown close to.

She appears to be around 19 years old, in actuality she is much older. Because of the process she underwent when being made into a Talon, she doesn’t age physically.

She was taught sign language from Cassandra, although she still prefers writing as a means of communication.

While Babs fills the role as an older sister type figure for her, Mary seems to have latched on to Secret Six team-member Thomas Blake as something of a (reluctant) paternal figure.

Charlie isn’t exactly a full fledged part of the Batfam, so much as Babs has taken her under her wing and started to mentor her.

She lives with Barbara, and is generally introduced as her cousin.

Carrie is Barbara’s second cousin on her mother’s side, who randomly showed up on her door one way after finding out she had a relative in Gotham.

Eventually she discovered Babs was Batgirl and pleaded for her to mentor her.

Basil has gone from a former Gotham rogue, to a redeemed and trusted member of the batfamily.

He's particularly close to Cassandra, and has become somewhat of a second father figure to her.

Selina really is on the family friend/extended family cusp, with Helena’s arrival edging her a bit closer to the latter. --She’s not quite a part of the core family, but with a daughter from a potential future timeline showing up her dynamic definitely changes.

Her and Bruce have, as you can expect, had a thing. They have in fact, had several things. They’re very on-and-off.

When they’re 'on’ their relationship is sometimes left open (bc y’all kno I’m all about that poly)

Selina being the alleged long-lost daughter of Carmine Falcone is canon in this verse.

Kitrina isn’t quite a part of the batfamily on her own, however as Selina’s protege she’ll make appearances here and there during times of need at her mentors side.

Kitrina is Selina’s niece (unbeknownst to her, tho Selina knows.)

Maps is one of Damian’s very best friends, and has taken full advantage of that to worm her way into the (at least somewhat) inner bat circle.

She’s is --as Damian keeps reminding her -- a vigilante in training and is always asking him to mentor her so she can join in when he goes on patrols. She's even volunteered to be the Robin's sidekick.

Breaking things down even more - The outer fam;

M is for lack of better explanation, like that close family friend you have who is sort of like the cool/fun Uncle. He helps out here and there, gets along w/ most of the fam, and pops into the manor uninvited every now & then to get a rise out of Bruce.

Gets along well with Dick and Jason. (Tends to team up with the latter to tease the former)

Cullen seems to have taken a real shine to him, and has asked if M would mentor him since starting to consider becoming a vigilante. (M however is unsure he's the right fit as a mentor for the kid, since his crime fighting methods tend to be a bit brutal)

He’s not married to Apollo in this verse, though they do have an on-again-off-again type relationship (so I can occasionally hook him up with other people w/o leading to drama).

Zatanna also falls into the category of close family friend.

Her and Bruce have been friends since childhood, making her one of his oldest and closest friends.

Also her and Bruce have had a thing once upon a time. (There might still be some feelings on both sides, I’m keeping options open here...)

Violet isn’t part of the core batfamily, and she doesn’t work quite closely enough with them to be considered part of the extended fam either, but in this verse she’s close friends with (and maybe dating) Harper. which has lead to her working a bit more frequently with the bats than she usually would otherwise.

Calvin is an ally of the Batfam & comes to help them when called upon.

He gets along really well w/ Dick. Circus boys gotta stick together! ...No really, they've got like a whole act worked out together.

Tatsu is another close friend and trusted ally of the bats. Though she doesn't work often with them under normal circumstances as she usually has her own things going on, when they're in a real pinch they can call on her, knowing she'll answer.

Lonnie's position within the batfamily is...complicated, as he doesn't always see eye to eye with some of them.

Despite not always getting along (with Bruce in particular), he does help out the family from time to time when they have need for him, and has admitted that he prefers being friend over foe.

Gets along best with Stephanie and Harper.

Had somewhat of a rivalry with Tim when they were kids. They're both (mostly) over it now.

Sort of awkward around Jason since it's highly possible Lonnie's biological father is the Joker... in this verse it totally is canon

Whatever is left to break down ;

Lincoln - aka Thomas Wayne Jr - Bruce’s younger brother that he was unaware most of his life that he even had.

(I’ve not really decided what to do with him yet, he’s only been fleshed out in this verse far enough for me to have decided that he definitely exists here, his backstory will mostly follow comic canon but after that I don’t know yet)

Thomas is Bruce (and Lincoln)’s father from an alternate timeline where he didn’t die (so, again, also not a huge divergence from comic canon, except this one isn’t an asshole who tries to ruin his son’s life and break his spirit whilst claiming it’s to help him...)

(I haven’t decided yet what to do with him. Do I want him to also be Batman?? Do I want him to have retired??? We’ll see... He, much like Lincoln in this verse, hasn’t been fleshed out beyond ‘he exists’, yet.)

[starspatter]

DCAU AU Questions: If Batman was able to grab real hard onto the Red Hood before he fell into a vat, pull him back up and then had the cops arrested him (thus, prevented the Joker to be born), how would life go for the Dark Knight if his clown faced nemesis never came to be? Note: This scenario would take place during Bats early year/s as a crime fighter.

Yo I’m actually really glad you asked me this bc first of all: NO JOKER JR HUZZAH *shot* (Although I’m sure Timmy Todd would get screwed over in some other way. OTL)*cough* But I’m getting ahead of myself.  As you said, let’s start at the beginning with Batman’s early days as a crimefighter.  This is, of course, assuming Joker’s origin story of being the Red Hood still holds true in DCAU (I was honestly really confused at first and thought you were referring to Jason Todd, who doesn’t exist in DCAU), as it’s never explicitly stated how Joker came to be.  What we do know is that he had ties to the Mafia through Mask of the Phantasm, which in itself was an initial turning point in Batman’s career.  However, I don’t think Joker’s absence would affect the plotline of the movie much; Andrea returns Bruce’s ring after his proposal and goes on the run with her father, leaving a brokenhearted Bruce to become Batman; her father would still be killed and she becomes a cold-blooded assassin for vengeance, thus making it impossible for her and Bruce to reconcile.There is one other woman who was influenced heavily by the Joker: Harleen Quinzel.  If he hadn’t come to Arkham, she might not have been manipulated into becoming a villain and remained as a psychiatrist.  I’d like to imagine she was assigned to Poison Ivy instead, and the two fell mutually in love during their sessions.  After a successful rehabilitation, they get married and live a peaceful happy life (with maybe some mischief once in a while) together.  (Incidentally, I just recently watched the “House & Garden” ep where Pamela “marries” her doctor at Arkham and appears to lead a normal life for a while.  Harley might not be quite sane to begin with, but somehow I see her subsequently being okay with willingly giving her DNA so that she and her partner can have “plant-clone babies” together.  So… It’d work out? *shrug*)As mentioned before, the lack of both Joker and Harley means Return of the Joker would never take place.  Tim Drake would hence go on to become Red Robin, Bruce wouldn’t become (quite so) bitter and lonely and continue carrying on his crusade while still having hope and faith in humanity.  When he does retire, Tim takes on the mantle as he expressed desire in doing so.  (And thus Terry would never come into being.  Sorry to BB fans, but since according to “Epilogue” he was a result of Waller wanting there to “always be a Batman”, I don’t see it happening here.  Maybe Damian might be born instead though?  Idk at this point.)

While I’m at it, I’ll insert another alternate headcanon that Bruce doesn’t enter into a relationship with Barbara, and instead she and Dick have a child together.  Barbara quits being an active vigilante in order to focus on raising their son (”John”, based on the Justice Lords universe in BB 2.0), but remains helping out behind the scenes, essentially becoming “Mommy Oracle”.  (Ofc, his father and uncle Tim take the lil hacker acrobat-in-training on wild escapades and get in all sorts of mischievous trouble, much to her chagrin. ;P)  Stephanie Brown, a.k.a. “Spoiler”, takes over as Batgirl, and she and Tim still end up together, as evidenced by RotJ.  Cassandra Cain was also shown to exist during the JL ep “The Savage Time”, so I expect she’d join the team at some point as well, perhaps as “Black Bat”.  …And so Batman’s legacy is upheld and everyone is one big happy family. \o/ *shot*

[teentitanimals]

Batfamily Switched AU

Not sure what to call this AU, but basically, what if the Core Kids (Dick, Babs, Jason, Tim, Cass, Steph, Damian) switched places with the New Kids? As in, the New Kids are the ones Bruce adopted, Bruce met first? Anyway, I wrote this at 3am

How the New Kids become the Core Kids

Harper and Cullen Row are the first kids. Harper is age 14 while Cullen is 8. Batman had saved them from getting gaybashed and beat up. Instead of returning them home, Bruce's heart is moved by seeing Harper cry her eyes out about not wanting to go back to her abusive dad, and then of Cullen crying about missing their dead mom. So, he finds enough evidence to put their dad in jail, and then Bruce Wayne adopts them. Harper ends up becoming Bluebird, figuring out on her own that Bruce is Batman.

Duke is Harper's Babs. An incident that happened during the day left his parents Jokerized, and his cousin Jay got custody of him. Duke became the Signal and started working during the daytime due to what happened to his parents. Batman and Bluebird would eventually confront him and officially let him be a member of the team. Duke would be age 14 when he becomes the Signal, and Harper is 16.

Henry Jr. and Claire come next. They were saved by Batman when they were younger, and had gained superpowers that drained their life force when used. They called themselves Gotham Guy and Gotham Girl, and Henry killed himself when he overused their powers after death. Claire, left broken and alone, was adopted by Bruce at age 14.

Carrie is Catgirl. Not Robin or Batgirl, as those mantles don't exist. She's more OOC in this universe. She's spiteful due to her parents lack of attention towards her and seeks to gain that attention by becoming a thief under the name Catgirl, inspired by Catwoman who does slightly take her under her wing, but encourages her to go home and stay safe. After she nearly dies and gets saved by Batman, she realizes she's on the wrong side of the fight. She starts fighting for good, and when Batman hears about her home life, he gathers enough evidence to jail her parents for child negligence, and Bruce Wayne adopts her. Carrie is age 12 when she first starts, and when Harper and Duke are 18 and 16.

Lance Bruner is the Jason Todd of this au. Canonically, he died and stayed dead. Here, he gets ressurected. He got adopted by Bruce due to the agreement between their two now dead fathers. Harper was 19, Duke 17, Claire 15, Carrie and Cullen are 13. Lance was adopted at age 14. In this au, Cullen has been managing the comms under the codename Oracle, and Lance, having found out the big secret, managed to get a voice changer and pretended to be Cullen on the comms. He thought Bruce didn't care about him, and that he never payed attention to him due to his other "siblings". He purposely put the Batfamily in danger, before realizing what he had done. He rushed out to save Batman, sacrificing himself on the process. He dies at age 14, nearly 15.

Helena Wayne crosses over from her world (Earth-2), but she's much younger, only 12. Her world was war torn, and her mother had used a Boom Toom to have Helena escape. Helena discovers and joins the Batfamily when Harper is pushed 20. Wanting to connect with her mother more, she asks Carrie if she can be the next Catgirl, and Carrie agrees, allowing Helena to become Catgirl while Carrie took on the new name of Huntress.

Next, Alina Wayne enters the picture. Her mother, Mariah Shelley, confronts Bruce about Alina being his. The canonical events happen where Mariah gets hit and put in a coma by the Joker, Joker kidnaps Alina, Batman rescues her, and she gets adopted by Bruce at age 9. Alina at age 11 wants to become a superhero, and Harper passes on the Bluebird mantle to her, becoming Nightwing, the name inspired by Superman's stories. Cullen becomes her Flamebird, leaving behind his days as Oracle.

When Lance is 16, he gets ressurected and then trained by the League of Assassins until he is 18. By then, Harper is 23, Duke is 21, Claire is 19, Carrie and Cullen are 17, Helena is 16, and Alina is 12. He takes on the name Red Hood and basically follows the same path Jason did. He feels as though his sacrifice was for nothing- Batman did nothing to get revenge for him, and he just replaced him with new kids, two biological daughters, anyway.

Run down of current positions: Harper is Nightwing (23), Duke is the Signal (21), Claire is Gotham Girl (19), Lance is Red Hood (18), Carrie is Huntress (17), Cullen is Flamebird (17), Helena is Catgirl (16), and Alina is Bluebird (12).

Now onto how the Core Kids become the New Kids

Dick comes in three years before Alina gets adopted. His parents are killed in the same manner, except there is no Bruce Wayne watching, although there still is a Tim Drake watching. He gets adopted by circus family that remains in Gotham. He gets inspired by the Batfamily and decides to strike out as Robin, age 10 (Harper is 20). Batman starts training him alongside Alina, and the two become good friends. The Robin mantle functions a little differently in this universe.

Barbara comes next. She comes in when Dick is 11 and she is 13. She wants to help fight crime, but she starts fighting in the daytime like Duke, just as Batgirl. She sort of becomes his sidekick, in a way.

When Dick is 15, Jason is 11 and living on the streets. Robin discovers him when he tries to steal his R-Cycle's tires. Dick gets Jason to go into the system in hopes to get him in a good family, but then they discover that this orphanage is actually a human trafficking ring. They both defeat it, and before Batman can even think to adopt Jason, Dick convinces his family to do so. Jason eventually dubs himself Red Robin, partner to Dick, who changes his alias to Blue Robin.

Enter Tim, who is still out stalking all of the Batfamily. He realizes that Dick is Blue Robin and deduces that Jason is Red Robin after that. When Dick is 17 and Jason is 13, Tim is 11. He chases down Dick and Jason and asks to join their "Robin group". Since We Are Robin does not exist in this universe, this is basically it's equal, in a way. Tim has to convince them by then deducing the rest of the Batfamily's identities, but they eventually allow him aboard as Yellow Robin. He functions more as an Oracle at first since Dick and Jason don't let him out until he has proper training.

Cassandra was raised by her father the same way as canon, and she ran away same way as canon. She pops in just around the same time as Tim, and she does it by saving Commissioner Gordon's life when she's 13. Barbara, age 18 at this point, is impressed, and takes her in legally as a ward (not adopted sadly due to the 5 year gal- they're more like sisters here). Cass works best at night, but since she is trained by Babs, she does operate during the daytime as well. Babs gives her the Batgirl mantle while she becomes Black Bat.

Also around the same time, Stephanie, age 12, becomes Spoiler for the same reasons as canon. She runs into the Robins more frequently than the Batfamily and therefore becomes closer to them. After her mother is killed, Dick gets his family to adopt her and she decides to become Purple Robin.

After her adoption, Tim's father is killed (his mother was killed awhile ago), and Dick's family adopts him.

All is well and easy going, until we enter Damian Wayne. Harper is 30 and Dick is 20. Damian is given to his father at age 10, but unfortunately, Batman is 'killed', and Harper takes up the mantle of Batman. Harper offers for Damian to stay with the family, and even briefly gives him the Bluebird title with Alina's permission, but he's too… well, Damian, and Harper is not Dick in this universe even if she's Nightwing. Damian runs away, but is hesitant to return to the League of Assassins. Luck would have it, the Robins find him. With a lot of push and shove, Dick eventually legally makes Damian his ward, giving him a reason to stay in Gotham since he was never made public as Bruce's child, and never adopted (although there was paperwork).

By the time Bruce comes back 'from the dead', Damian has made a name for himself as the Green Robin, and he doesn't want to leave his ragtag group of… siblings? Uncles and aunts? Family. Not sure exactly what they are, but they're family. Since Helena and Alina exist as Bruce's bio-kids already, Damian's "I am the One True Heir!" doesn't work, and his arrogance is stunted because of that. He found a place in the Robins where he never did in the Manor. So, Dick legally adopts him and he changes his name to Damian Grayson.

Eventually, the public would know Damian is Bruce's blood son, but the cover story would be that he was put in an orphanage and adopted by Dick. Damian eventually creates a relationship with his father. Other events that happen is Claire stops being Gotham Girl and becomes Oracle, as she realized being out on the field made her more likely to use her powers instinctively.

The final positions: Harper is Nightwing (31), Duke is the Signal (29), Claire is Oracle (27), Lance is Red Hood (26), Carrie is Huntress (25), Cullen is Flamebird (25), Helena is Catgirl (24), Barbara is Black Bat (23), Dick is Blue Robin (21), Alina is Bluebird (20), Cass is Batgirl (17), Jason is Red Robin (17), Steph is Purple Robin (16), Tim is Yellow Robin (15), and Damian is Green Robin (11).

Legally adopted by Bruce: Harper, Claire, Lance, Carrie, Cullen, Helena and Alina.