There are some people who think Selina beating Talia in a sword fight was actually a good feat and not exaggeration š«© Talia, a woman who was raised by assassins her whole life, and these are not just random assassinsā¦ She is Raās al Ghulās daughter. I mean, come on guys.
The combat part was, too, ridiculous in my opinion. Selina calling her āthe exā and beating her meanwhile Talia not even fighting back properly? Not saying Selina canāt win in a combat fight but at least give Talia more credit. She can at least do some self defense. Tom King vs thinking without racism filling his mind.
I meaaaanā¦ heās prob an american w-r cr!minal, so yh, his writing reflects a lot of that. His worldview shows, and it showsĀ hard. His version of Selina is white ( unless it was stated otherwise in the comic ? can't remember ) which fits a larger pattern in how he frames power and who gets to be centered as āright.ā I usually donāt obsess over Selinaās race bc, historically, sheĀ wasĀ written as white, so itās not as foundational an issue as it is with a character like Talia. but even setting that aside, the writing itself was justā¦ bad. like genuinely bad
the constant ābat.ā ācat.ā ābat.ā ācat.ā exchange was painfully cringe like it was trying to sound iconic and romantic but instead came off as shallow and embarrassing?? It reduced both characters to caricatures instead of treating them like fully realized ppl with history and depth.
and that fightā¦ omg, where do I even start??? it was clearly written to elevate Selina at Taliaās expense, turning Selina into this weird white-savior figure while completely flattening Taliaās competence. just this morning, Iāve seen someone on this app argue that the sword fight was actually ārealisticā for Selinaās character (lmao)
Selina is an EXCELLENTĀ street fighter. thatās her lane. sheās adaptable, clever, fast, dirty when she needs to be. she knows how to survive and how to hold her own in close combat BUT she is not an assassin. she wasn't trained from childhood by the League of Assassins, she wasn't raised inside one of the most deadly cults on the planet.
Talia, on the other hand, is Ras al Ghulās daughter for a reason. sheās been trained her entire life, sheās older, more disciplined, more experienced and canonically one of the most dangerous fighters in the DC universe. sword fighting is literally her domain and so putting Selina against her in a sword fight and having SelinaĀ winĀ isnāt empowering.... itās absurd.
what makes it worse is how the scene is framed. Talia is written like a cartoon villain, delivering dramatic monologues instead of actually fighting, while Selina gets smug, quippy one-liners. Talia barely even engages, as if the narrative itself is sabotaging her so Selina can look superior.... Itās lazy writing disguised as ācharacter work.ā
and the subtext is gross. Bruce calls Talia āthe most dangerous woman aliveā and instead of letting that stand, the narrative immediately undermines it by forcing Selina into a dominance display like the story is jealous on Selinaās behalf. It turns into a bizarre competition where Selina has to be positioned as the ābetterā āstrongerā āmore validā woman and thatās not feminism, thatās insecurity!!!
Ra's Al Ghul would actually have a heart attack if he saw that fight... and frankly, so would anyone who understands either character beyond surface-level fandom fantasies......
