nerd

This woman has held the mantle of Robin and Batgirl and has been the only person to do so. Robin - the mantle associated with dying, pressure, target for rogues and direct scrutiny and expectations of Batman and all the other Robins before you. Batgirl - the mantle that had its holders beaten and shot and stomped repeatedly until they eventually quit, the mantle that often gets overlooked simply because it has girl in its name.

Stephanie Brown is a survivor of poverty, domestic abuse and sexual assault/rape (depending on how you read the connotations) as a child. The actual fucking power you need to get up from that and keep going is unsurmountable. Like, here's this kid who has been hurt by the people who were supposed to take care of her and what does she do? She punches them in the face and becomes better than all of them.

And then when she wants to keep being a hero, she gets repeatedly put down and dissuaded by the Bigger Heroes, and what does she do? She spits in their face, goes behind their backs, and becomes better than they thought she could be.

She has been put down by Batman, Robin (Tim), Robin (Damian), her own dad, her own mom, her mentor who was supposed to train her (Barbara) and the entirety of the mentor's team, the previous Batgirl holders (Babs and Cass). And what does she fucking do?

She ignores them all and keeps fucking going.

My girl has carried and delivered a baby. Nine months of vomiting, nausea, pain, muscle aches and swoles, health problems and her insides being crushed followed by severe, unimaginable pain equal to torture pushing an entire human from your vagina as a teenager. And did she let that stop her? No. She fucking didn't.

Has anyone else carried and pushed out a baby? Nope. They've been tortured sure, but they can't measure upto Steph who has done both.

She has been abused, assaulted, harrassed, tortured, put down, underestimated, insulted, and also died, but did she quit? NOPE. She told the grim reaper to fuck itself and got out of hell with less whining than Jason. At least Jason had the luxury to hope that Batman will save him from Joker. Did she have that luxury when she was with Black Mask? Nuh uh.

Stephanie Brown really is the funniest person and has been from the second she debuted. The real reason Batman fired her is he knew he couldn't stand up to the onslaught of her snark. He was afraid.

And this isn't even including her as Batgirl.

I don’t hate him!! It’s complicated but I do Love his character, love all his neurosis and mental problems of his late 80 early 90s tec’ and Batman stories, there are truly so many good stories with him and which explore identity and human fear and kindness and hope. I enjoy his obvious and deeply personally destructive OCD. I really adore his no-death rule and how it personally governs his life in weird non-obvious ways. I like that he’s a lonely weird guy who fails in many basic social situations but craves human connection desperately. I love that he’s memorized the location of every water conduit in Gotham city. I enjoy the fact he’d be actively suicidal if he wasn’t Batman. I like the version of his origin where he attended college with an alter-ego, separating out his identity and creating a false-outside-self far before the idea of ever becoming something close to a costumed vigilante was remotely a possibility. I find him fun and interesting when he’s written well and also unfortunately fun and interesting when he’s written poorly (if only because it allows me to fill in the gaps to make it make sense).

If I talk about him in ways which make it seem like I hate him, it’s because he can be a deeply unfair character, (which I like about him!!) and he lies, to himself and to other characters. Which I like talking about and diving into!!

What I genuinely DONT like is how often those lies and unfairness get justified at the expense of Steph’s character ad infinitum on here by some Bruce fans and also unfortunately in some comic issues by some writers who don’t like Bruce to have any flaws ever!!

But I do think it’s an incomplete view of Crystals role in Steph’s childhood. From this panel in Secret Origins we see Crystal yelling, hand thrust out with an accusing finger at Steph. The expression on Steph’s face is one of dispassionate acceptance. The dialogue box describes the context- Steph trying to talk to Crystal about her addiction.

We see another moment of a more cruel Crystal popping up in Steph’s first appearance in Detective #647. Crystal asking Steph if she wants her to be a nervous wreck is almost an accusation: doesn’t Steph care? Does she want her mom to suffer?

Notice that both of these instances come after Steph questions or expresses concern about Crystals addiction.

I've been accumulating a list of the batfamily's stated or observed food, music, or hobby preferences (with some other misc info thrown in) with the help of various people across tumblr and twitter. Here is that list. Feel free to use it as a reference for fanfic/fanart/for fun/whatever else you want.

*I have not read everything ever, this is certainly missing information, and is biased towards what I have read and what my followers have read. This means I will be editing this as I get new information, and I'll add the dates of when I edit it at the top so people can stay up to date with the info.

*I tried to get sources for as much as I could, but some people didn't remember the specific issues/just gave me a panel with no source, and I'm not hunting all of that down. Most of the time if there's no source it's because I was only given a panel.

Edited 8/1, added to JPV, corrected 2 mistakes

Edited 8/2, added to Bruce, Dick, Barbara, Damian, and Tim

Bruce Wayne

Favorite soup is mulligatawny (Batman #701)

Likes medium/medium well-done steaks & likes grilling and uses it to relax (Batman #621)

Listens to sad jazz music

Loves dinosaurs (batman universe #3)

Likes the band The Clash (Robin 1993 #152)

Likes Chinese take out (Batman: Prodigal)

Likes nutritional smoothies that Alfred thinks are gross (Batman: Dark Patterns #7)

Hates cottage cheese (The Brave and the Bold #141)

Damian remarks that “Batman doesn’t eat pie” while Bruce refuses to eat pie at the Kent’s (Superman 2016 #20)

Likes burgers (Batman: The Brave and the Bold #10)

Favorite tea is Earl Gray

Likes orange juice

Dick Grayson

Alfred says crab stuffed mushrooms are Dick’s favorite food (Robin: Year One #3)

Doesn’t like cucumber sandwiches (Trinity 2008 #47 and then Bruce tells him to keep eating them and he starts liking them (Batman 2016 #54))

Doesn’t like cranberry muffins (Nightwing 1996)

Likes orange juice (Batman Prodigal)

Likes buckwheat pancakes (Nightwing 1995 #1)

Likes mint chocolate chip ice cream (Nightwing 1996 #70-something)

Dislikes coconut (Nightwing 1996)

Likes Dr. Pepper

Likes pineapple and andouille pizza (No Man’s Land)

Listens to OPM (Titans hunt #2)

Likes skydiving (Nightwing 1996 #140)

Has a high score in the arcade game “Apokalips Nah” (Nightwing Rebirth)

Is a bookworm (Batman 1940 #250)

Barbara Gordon

Likes chamomile tea (Azrael 1995 #35)

Likes D&D (Batgirl 2016 #50)

Owns various plushies of vigilantes (Batman, Azrael, Nightwing) (Unsure if she sews them herself)

Likes Italian food (Birds of Prey 1999)

Likes horror movies (Batgirl 2016)

Dislikes alcohol (Batgirl 2016)

Likes Alfred's omelettes (Robin 1993 #99)

Jason Todd

Chili dogs are his favorite (Gotham Knights #43)

Bruce says his favorite color was green, his favorite ice cream was neapolitan, and that he liked cars (Detective comics #790)

Says pot roast is his favorite (Detective comics #569)

Likes scrambled eggs with mozzarella cheese and a side of chips (Robin Lives #1)

Likes punk/rock/alt metal, including Slipknot, and a band called Poison Idea (Batman #408, 412, Nightwing annual 2021)

Is interested in historical fashion (Batman #413, Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer: Gotham by Gaslight #1)

Likes to read/often quotes classics & occasionally YA romance novels (RHATO)

Hates Alfred’s waffles (RHATO #8)

Enjoys hot chocolate (Blue Devil #19)

Hates the art of mime (Batman #412)

Enjoys a comic called Whisper (Batman Annual #11)

Tim Drake

Likes cucumber sandwiches (Trinity 2008 #47)

Favorite pizza toppings are canadian bacon with onion and artichoke hearts (Robin 1993 #116)

Tim says he hates shepherds pie (Robin 1993 #29) despite Jack Drake believing it to be his favorite (Robin 1993 #47)

Doesn’t like tuna sandwiches when Bruce makes them (unknown if he likes them otherwise)

Likes orange juice (Batman: prodigal)

Likes burgers, specifically orders a mushroom-swiss burger with fries (Detective Comics, #968, Robin #111)

Likes grape flavored Zesti (multiple, Psyba-rats #3)

Hates Alfred’s waffles (RHATO #8)

Likes the Foo Fighters (Impulse #56)

Listens to Enya, depeche mode, green day, oasis, and the jerky boys (Teen Titans v4 #14)

Likes D&D (Robin: Jokers Wild #3)

Plays tennis and skateboards 

Loves the kids cartoon Crocky (Robin 1993 42)

Goes fishing/sailing with his father

Hates sci-fi movies but loves old science fiction books

LIkes Buffy the Vampire Slayer and owns the box set

Likes cars (Robin 93 #1)

Dick says he hates cooking (Batman: prodigal)

Afraid of heights and hates needles (Robin 1993 #130)

Stephanie Brown

Favorite food is mashed potatoes (Robin 1993 #111)

She likes waffles and has a tradition of eating them with her mom (Batgirl 2009)

Used to do gymnastics (Showcase '95 #5) and play piano (Robin 1993 #111)

Played Varsity softball (Huntress/spoiler: blunt trauma)

Likes sewing (Robin 1993/ secret files/origins)

Steph owns a Nirvana shirt (Batgirl 2016 #50) also listens to Metallica and the Back-street Boys (Batgirl 2009)

Loves Sci-fi (Robin 1993 #57)

Is a Trekkie and goes to conventions (Robin 1993 #101)

Likes the peanuts/snoopy (Robin 1993 #104)

Has played D&D with Cass (Batgirl 2016 #50)

Dislikes gluten-free pizza (Robin #15)

Does yoga (Batman Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes)

Enjoys drawing/doodling (Batgirl 2009)

Cassandra Cain

Favorite ice cream flavor is chocolate (Batgirl 2000 #13)

loves herself “a big glass of milk” (Batgirl 2000 #62 & #66)

Likes cheeseburgers and fries (Batgirl 2000 #66)

Likes banana boba (DC Festival of Heroes: The Asian Superhero Celebration) and her favorite milk tea flavor is almond (Batman: Urban Legends #8)

Likes steamed buns (DC Festival of Heroes: The Asian Superhero Celebration) 

Likes Assam tea (Batgirl 2000 #61)

Likes rice krispies (Robin 1993 #138)

Likes various forms of dancing (Azrael Agent of the Bat #61) including moshing (Batgirl 2000 #63) and ballet (Batman and Robin Eternal #7, Detective Comics #950)

Also likes watching ballet and theater (Detective Comics 2016 #975)

Likes Shakespeare (Detective Comics 2016 #958/#981)

Likes soup (Batgirl 2024 #2)

When give the choice between chicken and pasta she takes both (Batgirl 2024 #8)

Likes pancakes (Nightwing 2016)

Seems to have a preference for apples over other fruit (throughout Batgirl 2000)

In general loves eating a lot! 

Tate Brombal, her current solo author, said one of her hobbies would be going on food tours all over Gotham and whatever city she happens to be in

Her and Steph have played DND together (Batgirl 2016 #50)

Very good at/enjoys fighting video games (BOP 2023)

Loves reality TV, specifically watches a show called “My Big Fat Obnoxious Top Model” she makes multiple references to shows as a way to help her speak (Batgirl 200 #65)

Damian Wayne

Is vegetarian

Likes hot chocolate and prefers it over tea (DC vs. Vampires)

Reads manga, specifically shojo (Robin #1)

Has read Naruto and Insomniacs (Batman and Robin 2023 #1)

Likes gluten-free pizza (Robin #15)

Likes Talia’s Ox Blood soup/has a preference for meals Talia cooks him (Teen Titans Special #1)

Plays violin (Batman & Robin #0)

Likes to draw

Likes pop-tarts and ovaltine (Adventures of Super Sons #4 & Superman: Jon Kent #4)

Doesn’t like his hair being long (Superman: Jon Kent #4)

Favorite arcade game is called “Cheese Viking” (Nightwing Rebirth)

Likes Shakespeare (Robin 2011)

Interested in Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar (Robin 2023)

Duke Thomas

Likes collectible card games, puzzles, and film (We are Robin)

Owns D&D books (Batman 2011 #30)

Enjoys writing, specifically poetry (We are Robin & Robin War)

Used to like watching MMA (detective comics) and paleontology as a child (Batman 2011 #30 & We are Robin)

likes heavy metal, his favorite band is called “Batman’s *****” (All-star Batman #3)

Likes and quotes Tarantino movies (We are Robin)

Luke Fox

Enjoys MMA/was an MMA fighter (Batwing #25)

Likes tinkering/engineering (Batwing #24)

Goes to basketball games with Kate and JPV (Detective Comics #958)

Kate Kane

Doesn’t like pomegranates (Batman: Urban Legends #8)

Likes Blondie, The 69-Eyes, and The Sisters of Mercy (Detective Comics #858, #859)

Goes to basketball games with Luke and JPV (Detective Comics #958)

Liked gymnastics as a kid and played soccer (Detective Comics #858)

Liked waffles and chocolate as a kid (Detective Comics #858)

Jean-Paul Valley

Likes westerns (Azrael: Agent of the Bat #56 and #75)

Goes to basketball games with Kate and Luke (Detective Comics #958)

Likes pulp novels (azrael annual #3)

Likes the Beatles

Alfred Pennyworth

Dislikes the band The Clash (Robin 1993 #152)

He likes penguins (Nightwing: Alfred returns)

If I may present my case:

She's the daughter of Magneto and doesn't know it. This gives her a mysterious but significant backstory tied to the main antagonist. If this were a show written by me, Wanda and Pietro would be more everyday antagonists, so she gets to know her siblings before discovering their connection. It would also be good twist material and provide linked personal and interpersonal conflict.

She's an everywoman. Her parents were killed in an accident (wink wink nudge nudge) when Lorna was young, and she was raised by her loving uncle and aunt. Her powers are clear and easy to explain- controlling metal- while still providing a lot of room for growth and creativity in fights. A sweet spot like this feels reminiscent of Kitty Pryde and Jubilee.

i’m still here