#bat meta

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IMO, I think it's... weird that tom king felt we needed or wanted that information when religious ambiguity is best for characters like this and leads to readers being able to fill in the blanks themselves. But it IS interesting.

Bruce, a blunt man with insecurities that finds comfort in the darkness, who's generally skeptic of most things, a perpetual downer, and likes to keep himself grounded in "reality", is an Athiest

And the Joker, a man who had a full blown mental breakdown when life became too cruel and strange, probably thinking “hey, why did god let this happen??” A man with a taste for symbolism and romanticism, who sees life as a joke told by some greater force, who Feels scorned by whatever’s up there and is absolutely bent on giving them a show. Is a Catholic

My bud @kiragecko and I were talking about my last fic and the things that would effect the relationship between time-traveling variations of Tim Drake, when she pointed out that I might as well make our convo into a meta post. So here we go.

We often talk about how Tim's painful experiences changed him, but we don't talk about how the good ones did too. I think we underestimate how much One Year Later changed Tim.

Bruce totally did it on purpose. He used an entire year away from Gotham to totally change his relationship with Tim and cement Tim's relationship with himself and Dick.

Bruce successfully got it through Tim's head that he loved Tim like a son. That Tim and Dick were brothers in name and actuality on multiple levels.

He wanted Tim to be happy. He believed that making sure Tim knew how much he was loved and how much he belonged was the only chance he had of making the kid happy after Tim suffered the death of his father, girlfriend, and best friend in one fell swoop.

Bruce couldn't have known how much it would also make Tim vulnerable.

The things that drive a knife through Red Robin, that make it so hard for him to get up day after day would have next to no effect on Robin!Tim.

A 16-years-old-or-younger Tim doesn't believe Bruce does or should love him as a son. Doesn't believe that Dick calling him lil' brother necessarily mean he's a big priority or anything. So having it yelled in his face doesn't hurt. Not like it hurts an older Tim who BELIEVED those things.

It doesn't matter how much older Tim tells himself the things he used to tell himself as a kid. He can TRY to deny, but he BELIEVED he was loved and had a place in the family. Because Bruce made him believe it. So now having it taken away hurts.

The mantle of Batman should not be passed on but instead die with Bruce Wayne.

I mean, who should it go to? Nightwing is who Dick Grayson is, and a completely different brand from Batman. He has the kind of trust and respect as a leader within the superhero community that Batman just doesn't. He should lead the JLA one day as Nightwing. It's insulting to him to think that the Batman mantle is a promotion. Few other people can carry the name of Batman but no one else is worthy of Nightwing.

Jason? The day he wears the Bat's cowl is the day he loses everything that makes him Jason Todd, whether or not he gives up killing. He's supposed to be a renegade of the mission, a counterbalance in values and methods to the Bat, not become him.

Tim? It would consume him completely. Dick is at his best when he's surrounded by a diverse team of people, but Tim straight up needs it. Preferably outgoing, expressive, extroverted and sunny ones that are as unlike him as possible. Being Batman would make him lose himself inside his own head. The last thing this kid needs is more incentive to be manipulative and self-sacrificing.

Cass is honestly the best contender, not least because the cowl wouldn't weigh her down but emancipate and uplift her. The only reason I don't think she should be Batman is because I personally feel she supercedes Bruce in everything his emblem stands for. She should be The Bat - all the essence of guardianship and protection and terror of the night and none of the (let's face it - manpaining) martyrdom. As for the cerebral and leadership aspects of the Batman mantle, I think Cass would be a good leader when the situation calls for it, but I don't know whether she'd thrive in the role. She's a deeply intuitive and empathetic person; the emotional distance and hard choices for the greater good she'd have to make would eat at her more than it would the others. Doing anything "for the greater good" feels anathema to Cass's nature. Her profound and unfettered compassion is her strongest virtue.

Stephanie–what. No. Lmao. She's Hope at the bottom of Pandora's Box. Never that.

Becoming Batman would be the worst for Damian, because the true actualisation of his character is in freeing himself of his parental mold. He only wants to be Batman to prove himself good enough, to be accepted and chosen and trusted, his existence validated. But that's just chasing a mirage, because those insecurities exist chiefly within himself. If he was Batman they would just be exacerbated, condemned to operate forever in his father's shadow, always trying to live up to the legacy of his blood and a mission he never chose for himself.

I don't follow the reboot comics at all so I don't know much about Duke, but it seems the whole point of him is that he's the one who is expressly not supposed to be Batman. The only one of Gotham's heroes that lives in the light of day, never condemned to the shadows.