Before I say which character it was, let me just put this right here from good ol’ Wikipedia:
Internalize this definition IN YOUR SOUL, because too many of y’all don’t actually seem to know the definition (or are willfully ignorant in the name of absolving your blorbos *ahem*👀).
Now, this definition applies to a lot of dialogue said about Jason after his death, and no it doesn’t matter that the characters who talked about him in such a way didn’t know he wouldn’t come back, or anything like that, it’s still victim-blaming (as the definition says) to even partially assign the blame of Jason’s death on Jason himself. Because if we’re talking about responsible parties, Sheila and more importantly JOKER are right there!
JOKER made the choice, the whim to brutally beat and torture a child, and then made the decision to kill him because he knew Batman wouldn’t be happy about it, so he decided that he had to get rid of the evidence. And before you say it, the only reason Jason went into that warehouse is because Sheila LIED TO HIM about the Joker not being there anymore, and he was trusting her. And even if that wasn’t the reason Jason went in, he’s still not responsible for his MURDER.
And I capitalize that because using the word “death” is at this point too tame for me, yes Jason was MURDERED. And nothing of that situation was his fault, who blames a child in this situation when the adults are right there?! Like damn, y’all are victim-blaming him exactly while you’re saying he’s not victim-blamed!
Ok, now that that’s all been said, who victim-blamed Jason first?
It was Bruce, because of course it was.
Sure, Tim and Dick have notable moments of victim-blaming Jason, but it was, as always, Bruce who started the trend. Because it’s in the comics, and there’s no way he would have been letting this particular idea about Jason’s murder persist otherwise.
How tf is “He wasn’t victim-blamed” WINNING?! I’m gonna scream and/or start biting something