Mostly Bruce Wayne

There is something I think to be said about Dick's relationship with Clark and how say Clark handles issues of agency and power vs how Bruce does, which I think is most evident in stories following up Dick leaving Robin behind, wherein if he goes to anyone at all for support in the immediate aftermath that person is virtually always Clark. As far as I'm able to remember at the moment in every different version whether Dick quits or is fired there's some amount of disrespect for Dick's agency and judgement on Bruce's part (if varying in degree and specifics). Suddenly, because Bruce is afraid (understandably or otherwise) of losing Dick in some way, he trots out Dick's age, he questions his ability to do things he's proven himself capable of countless times, he makes it clear in some way or another that he doesn't fully trust Dick the way Dick thought he did. Of course it makes sense to go to Clark in the wake of what feels like a huge betrayal as the other person who Dick always thought of as trusting and having faith in him - and Clark still does have that faith! He always, unfailingly, trusts in Dick. He eternally believes in Dick's ability and the soundness of his judgement, whether he's fifteen or twenty-five. And to some extent I think that has to do with how Clark has to approach the power imbalance between himself and humanity in general, and the faith that he has in humanity.

will never question the idea that batman is a fundamentally hopeful character when something that is central to so many of his stories is him either accepting for himself or inspiring others to see that they are more than their past traumas and that they have the ability to do or be better and sometimes even directly providing them with the resources and support to do this

trauma humping

In terms of Duke's opinion on Robin it is VITALLY important that Duke as a child never cared about Robin. He was a Batman fan way more like he dressed up as Batman for Halloween and it was Batman who promised him he'd save his parents. Therefore, it was Batman who failed him. Batman's failure to uphold his promise is symbolic of how the adult world fails children. Throughout all of this, Robin is not even a thought in Duke's mind until he meets/is recruited into We Are Robin. It is Izzy, Dax, Dre, Riko, and Troy who help Duke understand what Robin can mean. And it is only when he puts on the symbol himself that he starts to believe in the Robin promise - the promise of youth & agency, of revolution, of a social movement. There is no Robin prior to him becoming Robin and this is foundational to him and how he understands Robin and heroism as a whole.

genuinely it kills me that the only thing people know about duke is he’s a meta day time hero named signal because his pre meta signal stuff is so good and like the meat of his character to me like omg I just feel bad these people are missing out. They don’t even know “it’s why I got these puzzles out Mr Wayne. I’m going to take him on. They all say I’m crazy, but theyll see… you’re only crazy if it doesn’t work, right? Now, like I said… what’s a six letter word for hit-or-miss?” They don’t even know his parents got jokerized in an exact replica of the wayne family murders. They don’t even know We are Robin. They don’t know he’s a puzzle master. They don’t know everything he went through trying to find his parents. They don’t know he threw himself in front of a train because he was pissed Bruce was an amnesiac and wanted him to lock in and be Batman again. They don’t even know We are Robin. They don’t know he blasted Two-Face underwater with his favorite heavy metal band “Batmans bitch” and/or pussy it depends how you interpret the censor. They don’t even know “look at this. This is me. This is you. I love you.” They don’t even know We are Robin. They don’t even know he wanted to be called Lark. They don’t even know the name signal is based off his mom and being the first knight on the battlefield. They don’t even know “and you told me you had a rule. That when you weren’t sure about someone, you met them first thing in the morning. In the new light, you said. People have a harder time hiding who they are first thing in the morning.” They don’t even know he quotes Tarantino movies and is a poet and collects card games. They don’t even know “You think Joker is just pure evil, just pure black. But he’s not. He attacks what he loves. His serum makes victims do the same. So my parents? Every horrible thing out of their mouths? They’re actually telling me how much they love me. That’s the motivation behind the blackness. So please. Let them stay. I can take it.” They DONT EVEN KNOW WE ARE ROBIN

Harvey Dent a man with two halves that seek to subsume each other sitting across the table from Brucie Wayne a man whose two halves never ever touch is this anything