I killed you to save the world once.

idk if this is an unpopular opinion but i really dislike the trend in both dc and fandom towards making jason’s original red hood ideology out to be just… temporary insanity? like, jason came back with a very clear belief that some people (emphasis on SOME) who have repeatedly demonstrated that they won’t reform deserve to be killed, both as punishment for their crimes and to protect future victims, and that sometimes a show of force is necessary to keep more organized crime in line. i’m not saying that his methods are right- i think one of the most compelling parts of under the red hood is that it shows that he isn’t 100% right, but that batman isn’t either- but it’s a solid motivation and it makes sense why he’d follow it. of course dc screws everything up in that regard by just abruptly changing him to a straight black-and-white villain who goes around shooting people for no real reason, but initially he does have a very clear ideology and moral code, even if it doesn’t line up with the other bats or most other heroes. and imo sustained conflict over that is a much better story than, like, him having a temper tantrum and then getting over it to be bruce’s Good Soldier again and play nice with the batfam. i think there’s a lot of potential for a compelling, in-character story where he eventually does reconcile with his family (and i think things were moving in that direction until battle for the cowl happened), but brushing everything under the rug as “yeah he was crazy™ for a while but he got over it except for sometimes grumbling about how batman won’t let him kill people” just does a disservice to his character and his agency and belief system.