howdy

I started getting into DC about 6 years ago now, and roughly a year in I heard about this new webtoon comic that was really cute and fluffy about the bats (before that I was mainly just on dctok, watching CW's the Flash and... shudder.. watching some Synderverse movies (I've recovered now don't worry)), so as a 13 year old I was instantly hooked and started reading. This was my first introduction to some of these characters, specifically Damian. I internalised this depiction of these characters for years afterwards, despite not really keeping up with WFA anymore.

Now, at the time, I had never seen an Arab character before outside of the tiny bits of Iron Man I had watched. I didn't have the knowledge to understand that depicting an Arab character as 'feral' and violent was incredibly wrong and racist. There are countless moments in WFA where Damian is needlessly violent, 'feral', and 'uncivilised' as he tries to attack people at galas or in his family.

Damian tries to stab a guest at a gala for babying him [Batman: Wayne Family Adventures #14]

Him being a normal kid in brief sections (i.e. him making a friend at school) is made out to be this crazy thing that is completely uncommon for him. Not only is this wildly out of character for him, I mean he likes to draw and read manga for crying out loud, it's also a really racist stereotype that Arab people are uncivilised or barbaric, and it has been used to justify harm done against Arab communities in the past.

Damian Wayne reading manga whilst waiting for someone [Robin (2021) #1]

Then there was Duke. He didn't actually get to exist properly. He was a prop in the story, the 'normal one' who made all the other characters look more interesting when compared to him. I've heard he's better now but anytime I go and check he is still this really neutral character without much to say for himself. Even in ads for WFA they describe him in the most neutral way, stripping him of most of his personality. So much of what I can remember is just Duke standing around asking people questions so that they can explain how cool the rest of the family is. He's a plot device rather than an actual person.

Official ad for Wayne Family Adventures - "Duke Thomas/The Signal: certified cinnamon roll | believes all his friends' lies | proofreads texts 12 times"

Duke is a relatively new character for the Batman mythos, being introduced during the new 52, yet he has still managed to become this really interesting and unique character. He has helped develop a new style of Robin, bringing in the idea that Batman needs Robin, but Robin doesn't need Batman, he's the first meta in the family, his parents are still alive but they're jokerised so he has to be fostered by Bruce, he works during the daytime unlike the typically nocturnal bats, and his father is this new and interesting villain. He's such a fun character that doesn't get to keep any of his great qualities (apart from being a meta), instead being reduced down to a black best friend/token black character trope. Sure the white characters get dumbed down too, but it's no where near as extreme as Duke, and they're still getting propped up in the story at his expense. He's such a smart kid and a great tactician, but none of that is shown in WFA, which is the main (or in some cases, only) place a lot of fans will interact with him outside of fanon works.

Young Duke Thomas working to come up with a riddle that the Riddler cannot solve in order to save Gotham City [Batman (2011) #30]

There are other poc in WFA that are turned into tropes, but the last one I want to focus on is Cass (mainly because she is the last one I fully remember from when I used to read it). Cass is a badass Asian girl trope mixed with the silent Asian girl trope. She barely speaks, but when she does it's really blunt, she's reserved, and she can and will wipe the floor with everyone. She's one dyed hair streak away from the rebellious asian girl trope. She's always a perfect fighter, and her only issues stem from her being too good at fighting and at reading body language, making her only fit to be dangerous and a weapon. I know they don't like going deep into characters issues, but they really could've done a better job with Cass when they did give her some angsty moments.

Cass analyses herself in the mirror after hurting Steph, who was upset but didn't want to talk about it, but Cass read her body language and pushed her to talk about it - "Conclusion: dangerous." Cass: "Someone made for hurting" [Batman: Wayne Family Adventures #33]

Her relationship with her father for starters, how as a kid she would've done anything to make him proud of her, how he would never let her hold him unless it was to fight, and how her relationship with him affected her relationship with Bruce. It also doesn't recognise that her loyalty isn't really to Bruce, but rather to Batman and what he stands for, but they don't acknowledge any of the true dynamics between Bruce and his kids so I'll give them a pass on that part. They've taken away her motivations and turned her into a weird mix of stereotypes that hurt Asian women, and now fanon just exemplifies that (if I have to see one more mute Cass piece I will cry, no she doesn't use ASL, she has a learning disability, the only reason you think that is either because someone else told you and you didn't think about it properly, or because you don't think ASL is a real language like English).

Cass and Bruce are curled up and have a conversation after a fight - Cass: "He never let me touch him... hold him... just fighting... and hurting" (...) Bruce: "I need to know once and for all where your loyalties lie, Cassandra. With your father? ... Or Barbara? ... Or me?" Cass: "No. Not you. This" (she points to the bat symbol on his chest) [Batgirl (2000) #50]

One of the only justifications I've seen for this is that mainline comics also have racist tropes, which... yeah? We know? We also have massive issues with that too? DC as a whole has an issue representing all minorities, their issues with black leads (or lack there of) got so bad that a whole movement was started (DCsowhite, started by @jpenumbra on tiktok and instagram, go check him out, he has some really great insights on black characters in comics). If your only defense of something being racist is "well these comics are racist too, why don't you focus on them!" then you really should take a moment to stop and reflect. DC has an issue with representing Asian characters (they love their dragon lady and asian baby mama tropes, look at Lady Shiva, Jade Nguyen, Shado, Talia Al Ghul, and Linda Park. As much as I love them, they play into one or both stereotypes), Arab characters (the Al Ghuls' are depicted as terrorists and aren't even from a specific country, they're just labeled Arab, and Black Adam's writing is rife with orientalism), and black characters (the tendancy to push Black characters like Duke or Ace aside in favour of their white families is exhausting, and again, whilst we may now be getting three black led comic ongoings, it took over three years for them to be announced after I Am Batman finished).