#dp fluff

King-Jones journey to stardom started six and a half years ago when she appeared out of the blue and won gold at the 2018 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. She reportedly walked into the tryouts for America’s archery team, blew everyone else out of the water with multiple bulls-eyes, and secured her spot on the team.

The 2018 Summer Olympics famously faced severe criticism for their decision to allow the island nation of Zandia, populated entirely by supervillains, to compete. Among their archery team was Deadline, Merlyn, Turk, and Tigress, accompanied by a full roster of other villains to compete in the other games.

King-Jones was personally affected by the inclusion of Zandia in the Summer Olympics. Three days before the archery contest, the star archer of Team USA, Tina Thomas, was attacked in Olympic Village and had her arm forcefully broken. King-Jones’ mother, Bonnie King, was one of the primary suspects in the case due to footage that reporter Ace Atchinson captures of King speaking to the archer and assassin Merlyn just before the attack. King was taken into custody, and King-Jones was disqualified from competing.

It took the intervention of Natalie Rodriguez, a fellow teammate on Team USA’s archery team, to acquit King and restore King-Jones to the competition. Natalie is deaf, and was skilled enough in lip reading to be able to make out King’s words on the audio-only tape provided by Atchinson. Tina Thomas was later able to confirm she was attacked by the villain Hazard.

King-Jones would then go on to compete in the archery competition. However, she was nearly shot with an arrow in the middle of the competition by the villain Huntress, who wanted to ensure that Zandia would win. But thanks to her mother’s sharp eyes and quick intervention, King-Jones escaped injury and won gold for the United States of America.

Cissie King-Jones on the podium after winning gold for the United States of America in the Summer Olympics, 2018 (Image: Olympics press release on the 2018 Summer Olympics)

After her very young and sudden victory at the Olympics, King-Jones was propelled into stardom. Her acting career began less than a year later, when she guest starred on the famous Wendy the Werewolf Stalker as Luella Ponel. King-Jones befriended star Terri Jewel Jackson through her role, a connection that would soon prove valuable as King-Jones began her career in Hollywood.

King-Jones then began to work her way through supporting roles and eventually lead roles on a number of well known shows and movies such as Metropolis 99, Peter Johnson and the Celestials, and Intergalactic. Eventually though, she received the lead role as Kate Bishop in Hawkeye. In 2021, King-Jones received her Emmy for outstanding lead actress in a drama series for her work with the show.

Since then, King-Jones has continued her work in Hollywood, and starred in a total of seven television shows and five movies, in addition to a large number of further supporting roles. She has also continued her archery, winning gold again for the United States in the 2022 Summer Olympics, and has announced she will compete again in the 2026 Summer Olympics.

In addition to King-Jones’ great success in the sports and entertainment industries, she has also become one of the favorites in the tabloid and gossip realm. King-Jones has been routinely spotted with the young socialite Timothy Drake-Wayne and superhero Wondergirl, Cassandra Sandsmark (check out our women’s history month post on her here!) They appear to have struck up a friendship after the disastrous attack by Devastation on the Blythmoor family’s annual charity gala two years ago. Sandsmark was the first hero to respond to the attack, due to her already being present, and famously rescued the two young celebrities. Since then, the three have routinely been spotted in public together, alongside other young celebrities in their age group, such as Terri Jewel Jackson and Mia Dearden.

Cissie King-Jones, rocking a suit on the Oscars red carpet. She sported a baby blue suit, paired with a deep red v-neck shirt and a golden arrow necklace that called attention to her new single titled Let the Arrows Fly (Image: @FloatingNebulas on L)

With her victory at the Oscars last week, her now well-established place in the world of celebrities, and King-Jones’ recent beginning steps into the music and stage entertainment industries, she is well on her way to winning a fabled EGOT. In fact, King-Jones just released her first single, titled Let the Arrows Fly, and recently confirmed her casting as Beatrice in the new Broadway production of Much Ado about Nothing.

On February 19th 1990, Martha went to a viewing of the Mask of Zorro with her son Bruce and husband Thomas, a celebration for the young boy's 8th birthday. Unfortunately, this night would end in tragedy. Attempting to take a shortcut home, the Waynes walked through Park Row - known colloquially by Gothamites as Crime Alley - were the two parents were shot dead by Joseph Chilton. This horrific crime brought tragedy to the entire city, not only because of its depravity but because of the people Martha and Thomas were.

Martha's parents were Irish immigrants who moved to Gotham in the early 1960s with their infant daughter. Already successful with Kane Chemicals in Ireland, they soon set up base in America and continued to grow their powerhouse, becoming one of the more prominent families in Gotham, a city famed for its billionaires. 

Despite having the reputation of a “party girl” in her youth, Martha was a famed philanthropist and protester. If you look into the financial records of any Gotham-based charity, Martha Wayne's name will certainly come up.

Martha Wayne, 26, at the annual Wayne New Years Party, 1984 (Image: @.BlueBedo_ on L)

Martha was particularly dedicated to crime, donating a total of $22 billion in her lifetime to police and prison charities alone. Reform Gotham Prisons, a charity focused on reshaping the prison system to focus on rehabilitation rather than punishment, was one of the many charities listed in Martha's will to gain a sizable donation. Even in death, this pseudo-Batman crime fighter dedicated her entire life and fortune to the people of Gotham, a trait rare to find in modern billionaires.

The only billionaire who comes close to this is her own son, Bruce Wayne. Not only does he contribute his own large amounts of donations to the multiple charities across Gotham, but he opened the Martha Wayne Foundation in 2004 in her honour - an institution specifically designed to help ex-convicts get a job and have a second try at life, with incredible benefits and support system put in place.

As a mother, she also had an affinity for children and would both donate to and volunteer in Gotham orphanages. For a few years she also acted as a foster parent, keeping abused children at her home in Wayne Manor for as long as the state would allow, though she would never come to adopt any. When she died these children were all unfortunately placed in the system again, but many of the grown children she fostered spoke pleasantly about Martha. Jodie Foxx was fostered by Martha from 1986 to her death in 1990, and believed that the philanthropist “was an angel sent to Earth specifically for the strays and children of Gotham.”

She was mother to the entire city, a caregiver who kept on giving. And she lives on now through her son, a man just as kind as she was.

Firstly, despite proclaiming to be from an entirely different planet, one destroyed long ago, they are almost all simultaneously Midwestern. Secondly, as long as the Sun shines there will be one nearby - ready to stop a mugging or merely picking up a Batburger from the newly opened Metropolis chain.

However, most importantly, is that every single one of our heroes is an avid animal lover.

Almost every single month, without fail, there has been a new sighting of a Super at the local dog park, or saving a grateful cat from a tree, or the ever-famous instance of a snake attempting to strangle Superwoman at Metropolis Zoo.

Supergirl outside Centennial Park petting a cocker spaniel, 2025 (Image: @BlueBedo_ on L)

And yet again have the Super Pet Lovers hit! Supergirl has been spotted in New Troy petting a cocker spaniel outside Centennial Park. It had been a slow day on Wednesday for crime, with no manipulative supervillains or fire-breathing Kaijus causing any havoc, so it only makes sense that our local heroes would take a small break.

This isn’t the first time recently, however, that a Super has been spotted with their hands in canine fur. Just last week none other than Superboy (the older one, not the younger one - that’s Superman Two. Yes. We know.) was seen outside the WayneTech Laboratories building in downtown Metropolis playing Tug-O-War with a rottweiler.

“I was just taking Daisy out for a walk when suddenly Superboy showed up and said he’d give me his hotdog if he could play with her for a bit.” dog owner Scarlett Crawford told the Planet. “Obviously when a superhero asks to play with your dog you say ‘yes’. Also I was, like, super hungry. Pun intended.”

The love of animals shared amongst the heroes is not news to anybody, I’m sure. After all, we all remember when Krypto the Superdog was first introduced to the general public back in 2012. In a single week, #Krypto and #Superdog were both trending on L (previously known as ‘Twitter’ before being bought by ex-president Alexander Luthor) and the bright young pup was plastered on every news site - including the Daily Planet! It seems only right that Metropolis’ favourite children would share our love of animals.

For those unaware, the Neon Knights Initiative aims to help prevent at-risk teenagers and children from turning to a life of crime through providing youth shelters, community activities, and providing expanded access to already established support centers. Since his announcement of the effort in 2021, Drake-Wayne has maintained his position as director of the organization and expanded it widely across the globe. Recently, Timothy Drake-Wayne has graciously agreed to give an interview ahead of this Friday’s charity auction hosted by Wayne Enterprises to raise money for the foundation, and invited Daily Planet reporter Augusta Mae Barlow out to the Neon Knights headquarters in Gotham City.

Augusta Mae Barlow: Thank you for agreeing to meet with me today Mr. Drake-Wayne! I’m very excited to hear more about the Neon Knights.

Timothy Drake-Wayne: It’s my pleasure Mrs. Barlow, and please, call me Tim. I’m pleased to be here. When I heard the Daily Planet was interested in doing a story on the foundation, I knew I couldn’t turn down a chance for such good publicity.

AB: And we at the Daily Planet would never turn down the chance to give such a wonderful organization the attention they deserve. Speaking of which, would you be willing to tell us a bit about the Neon Knights?

TDW: I’d be glad to. We’re a philanthropic social foundation funded in part by Wayne Enterprises, which donated enough money for us to get off the ground and begin our efforts. But the majority of our funds these days come from donations and fundraising. That’s why we host multiple events throughout the year to raise the money necessary for our expenditures.

AB: What expenditures does the Neon Knights need so much money for?

TDW: Well, there’s the operating costs for all of our locations of course. We have centers in over 38 cities globally, soon to be 39 with our under-construction center in Seoul, and each of those centers runs multiple outreach and community improvement programs for their respective districts. Those could range from planning events to engage young teens in social activities to encourage community building, funding shelters to help homeless minors, and even simple things like providing a place for teenagers to relax or offering free tutoring services. That alone costs a lot of money, and doesn’t even account for any of our employee’s salaries or property bills. As a philanthropic non-profit organization, we rely entirely on donations and fundraising to do all of this.

AB: Those sound like some fantastic efforts by the Neon Knights initiative. Providing teenagers with a place they can turn to is a wonderful idea. But where did the inspiration for this come from?

TDW: It’s honestly pretty simple. I first started to think of the idea for the organization when Gotham City was experiencing a particularly tumultuous period of gang violence in 2021. I noticed that many of the members of these gangs had been wrapped up in crime for a long time and began to do some research. There’s a well-documented relationship between age and crime, where the number of offenders begins to rapidly rise in teenage years, peak in adolescence, then fall of sharply. But there’s also a wealth of evidence that youth incarceration repeatedly fails to address the issue and is extremely damaging. So, why not target the heart of the issue directly and attempt to cut off the rise in crime before it begins by helping particularly at-risk teenagers?

AB: At-risk teenagers? Would you be able to expand on that?

TDW: These are teenagers that may be more likely to end up committing crimes, whether that be due to difficulties in school or a tumultuous home life, pressure from outside influences, or a number of other factors. Our goal is to help these teenagers by providing them with a safe space to turn to and resources they can utilize. We provide pro-bono therapy and legal assistance, secure community spaces they can socialize with peers in, and help with obtaining anything else they need.

AB: Does any of the inspiration for this come from your own experiences and family? Didn’t much of your adoptive family come from places of hardship?

TDW: You’re correct. My eldest brother, Dick Grayson, briefly lived in a juvenile detention facility for a time after the death of his parents, before Bruce Wayne took him in as a ward. All of the orphanages, group homes, and foster homes in the city were full and CPS couldn’t find anywhere else to put him. He’s told me that he still has nightmares of the place and the conditions the other children there lived in, and some of the things they told him. There’s also my best friend, Stephanie Brown, the daughter of Arthur Brown, or the supervillain named Cluemaster. She grew up in the suburbs, but still faced the struggles of poverty and has stated that if she didn’t hate her father so much, there’s a very good chance she may have accepted his multiple offers to work with him as a teenager. Or my younger foster-brother, Duke Thomas, who grew up in the narrows with two loving parents but eventually had that ripped away from him. That resulted in him being shoved into Gotham’s tumultuous and dangerous foster-care system, and ending up as part of the ‘We are Robin’ movement before being taken in by Bruce. All of them fell into the ‘at-risk’ category and could have easily had a much worse life. Why shouldn't millions more who are in similar situations also be able to get the kind of help Bruce gave them?

AB: That’s a very poignant statement Tim, but many other people have said similar things. What made you decide to step up and put action behind those thoughts?

TDW: One of the foundational values my parents instilled in me was backing up your words. What you say means nothing if you don’t follow it up with concrete, real action. I’m far from the first person to start an organization dedicated to at-risk youth, and I certainly won’t be the last. But I saw a way I could help, even if it was just by creating yet another place children and teenagers could turn to and targeting cities that don’t have enough established locations to support their population. So when I temporarily became the CEO of Wayne Enterprises in 2021, I decided to use that position to take action. If I had access to all that money and power, then why not use it for some good?

Timothy Drake-Wayne, pictured with Tiffany Fox (left) and Tamara Fox (right) in one of the first press conferences announcing the establishment of the Neon Knights Initiative (Image Credit: Gotham Gazette, 2021).

AB: So you became CEO of Wayne Enterprises, founded the Neon Knights and began the ground-work, then almost immediately returned power to Bruce Wayne? How did that happen? Weren’t you seventeen at the time?

TDW: Ha, it’s a bit complicated. So, Bruce was considering finally retiring and turning over management of his company to someone else, likely Lucius Fox who has been the acting CEO for over a decade. But, he screwed up the paperwork a bit and accidentally transferred all of his stocks and the position of CEO to me instead. So I was technically the majority shareholder and CEO until that could be worked out, but it was only really in name. Lucius Fox maintained his position and did all the work, until it could all be sorted out. But by then Bruce had changed his mind and decided he wanted the position of majority shareholder back, so he retook his spot and Lucius became the official CEO again.

AB: While that sounds convoluted and confusing, I’m not very surprised by it. At least the mixup gave you the chance to start the Neon Knights, right?

TDW: Yes, it was very fortunate! That was really the only thing I did during my technical tenure as CEO. I was seventeen after-all, even if I was an emancipated minor.

AB: And why is that?

TDW: To be honest, I was bored with school. That was really the main reason. The classes were boring so I just dropped out and decided to find myself. It worked out very well for me, but if you’re considering the same path, then don’t take it. I was extremely lucky.

AB: Very well said, and I’m sure many parents out there thank you for those words. Now, unfortunately, our time is coming to an end, but is there anything else you would like our readers to know?

TDW: Please consider donating to the Neon Knights Initiative. All of the money donated goes towards a very important cause, and you can verify that information as all of our budgets are posted publicly online. All further information can be found online at our website, which I’m sure the Daily Planet will link in this article.

AB: Of course we will! Well, thank you for your time Tim, and I wish you the best of luck at the upcoming charity auction!

The mentioned charity auction will be taking place this Friday, April 18th, in Gotham City at the Emile Wayne memorial event hall and is sponsored by Wayne Enterprises. The Daily Planet’s Gotham City correspondent will be reporting on the event live, as many of Gotham’s wealthiest are expected to attend.

BatWayne is the colloquial term for the well-known ship between famous celebrity and public icon Bruce Thomas Wayne, and the rarely seen urban legend vigilante of Gotham City, Batman. The ship was first created after rumors of Batman’s existence began to circulate in Gotham City two and a half decades ago. However, it quickly rose to prominence following Batman’s first crashing of Bruce Wayne’s biannual charity gala. Bruce Wayne had disappeared in the commotion of Batman battling the supervillain Penguin’s goons, only to later resurface with the claim that Batman had locked him in a side room for his own safety. The internet, predictably, exploded.

Another notable BatWayne moment is when Bruce Wayne was spotted being saved by Spoiler, one of the Gotham vigilantes that people theorize is one of Batman’s children. Spoiler was reportedly very friendly to Wayne, and very familiar around him, leading fans of BatWayne to speculate that Wayne and Spoiler had previously interacted. Perhaps it was when Batman introduced his partner to his children?

Fans of the celebrity ship also point to the fact that Bruce Wayne’s children have some of the highest kidnapping rescue times in Gotham City, even down to just a few minutes! When Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne, Bruce Wayne’s fourth adopted child and the young CEO of Wayne Enterprises was kidnapped off the street three months ago, he was rescued by Nightwing in only four minutes. The kidnappers’ van hadn’t even made it two blocks. Why would the Wayne children apparently be so much more heavily watched than the other citizens of the city, unless Batman and his colleagues saw them as family because of Batman and Bruce Wayne’s relationship?

Timothy Drake-Wayne being carried by Nightwing after a kidnapping, 2025 (Image: @BlueBedo_ on L)

Finally, fans have pointed out that Bruce Wayne appears to have a much more favorable view of Gotham’s resident vigilantes than most of the grim city’s elite. Other top members of society have repeatedly criticized Batman’s near free-reign, with the failure of the GCPD to hunt him down, and how almost all of their parties seem to now end in a Bat fighting with a supervillain. However, when Bruce Wayne was asked about his opinion on the Gotham vigilantes, he said that “I believe they are doing good work. Gotham is a hard city to live in, and the Bats are trying their own methods to help the people. It isn’t legal and has very little oversight, but many other cities have similar issues with their own heroes. Look at Superman or The Flash. They also aren’t overseen by their police departments, and work largely independently like Batman, but their intentions are known to be good. I believe the same of Batman.” Maybe the reason Bruce Wayne was so defensive of Batman’s intentions is because he’s secretly dating him and didn’t want to attack his partner?

There are, of course, a multitude of other reasons people ship BatWayne, such as the way Batman carried Bruce Wayne the single time we’ve seen him save the billionaire, the huge charity donations that Wayne gives to clean up Batman’s property damage, and the numerous interactions between their respective children. However, while this ship is extremely popular, we will likely, unfortunately, never see confirmation of it. Batman remains a very private hero, despite being a founding member of the Justice League, and Bruce Wayne maintains his billionaire playboy appearance. So sorry to all their loyal fans out there. Maybe one day your dreams will come true!

For those who may not know: Big Brother UK is a reality television show named after the oppressive figure of George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. 13 contestants, known as “housemates”, live together with no connection to the outside world and are watched from cameras throughout the house by a faceless overseer known as Big Brother. Every conversation, every action, every second is televised to the nation.

And, in a complete shock, an American superhero joined the cast for the first time ever! Michael Jon Carter, known professionally as Booster Gold, entered the house a mere 6 days ago. There were concerns about his entry from the very beginning, with the general public assuming he was superhuman and dangerous - but every day following proved he was just like us, if not even more normal.

Despite this, last night Gold was removed from the Big Brother house following the first ‘eviction’. 

Gold in the official Celebrity Big Brother UK promotion, 2025 (Image: BBC website)

In his following interview, Gold said he was ‘“extremely shocked” by the outcome. He named fellow housemate The Right Honourable Cyril Sheldrake, Earl of Wordenshire, as “who [he] expected to be booted off first.” This statement caused a slight commotion in the room, but ultimately he was proven right. Statistics later proved Sheldrake was only 86 votes behind Gold.

Gold later added: “It’s sad, we were all actually becoming good friends - or ‘mates’ as you guys say. I especially like Celia [Windward], she’s great. A gorgeous woman.”

Many American fans were gutted by the news, with @.floatingnebulas on The Booster Gold App and saying: “He’s too good for the brits anyway!!!” 

However, many British fans came to their defence, @.BlueBedo_ claiming that “[his eviction] wouldn’t have happened if he stopped flirting with Celia and instead went back to his place in between Blue Beetle’s legs.”

It seems the main problem the British public had with Gold was his romantic remarks towards Windward, affections that were not reciprocated. Although she had never asked Gold to stop, and even seemed to enjoy his flirtations majority of the time, she never outwardly returned them. This led to many viewers labelling Gold as ‘creepy’.

There is no way to know if these affections are reciprocated, however, until her eventual interview. Yet Gold reassures the Planet, as well as the rest of the populace, that she ‘fancied’ him too.

He first appeared, seemingly manifesting out of thin air, saving our very own Pulitzer-prize winning writer Lois Lane and beloved photographer James Olsen. The two had commandeered a helicopter - which Lane insisted she could fly - in order to report on another story. Multiple government helicopters suddenly went rogue, though many now believe this was no coincidence and instead plotted by famed billionaire, ex-president and enemy of Superman, Lex Luthor.

Our beloved Man of Steel flew across the entire city, destroying the helicopters and saving so many innocent lives. In mere moments the entire country was asking: “Who is that guy?”

Once all the helicopters were taken care of, Superman flew straight to Luthorcorp headquarters, where he confronted the billionaire - presumably for hijacking government property and aiming to hurt others. Lane and Olsen soon arrived at the scene, taking the below picture of Luthor and Superman while Lane took a statement from Luthor: “Everyone at Lexcorp knows this disaster for the senseless tragedy it is. My heart goes out to the victims and my hand to their protector. This stranger’s amazing actions no doubt prevented the loss of countless lives, meaning that whoever he may be, he is a friend to Lex Luthor.”

Luthor and Superman pictured in LexCorp Headquarters, New Troy, posing for the cameras, 2005. (Image: James Olsen)

… Of course modern Metropolis citizens know this is not the case. The reporter and photographer were soon attacked, so Superman saved them before flying away into the Sunset.

Over the next week, Superman would fly across the state helping all sorts of people: he stopped a pair of teenagers from inciting a school shooting, binded the man who dealt the weapons to the youngsters, lifted cars off helpless victims, and countless more. 

However, despite his heroism, many were still cautious of him. Polls began popping up accusing Superman of being deceitful, manipulative, only helping people for his own evil gain. Then-Governor Becker said: “We have no idea who, or what, [Superman] is or what his motives may be. Even Guardian Angels must answer to some higher force.”

It was at this moment tensions grew to a peak, especially following Clark Kent’s article “Not One of Us” where Luthor himself went on the record claiming Superman was an alien and not to be trusted. An extraterrestrial dedicated to enslaving humankind. Soon enough, we’d see an anti-Superman agenda become much more popular than a Superman-loving ideology.

But even sooner we’d see an alien invasion bearing the very crest Superman wore.

The police pursued Superman and the attackers, the public feared him, and many outright despised him. Yet despite adversity, despite mistrust, Superman still fought for us. He loved us, believed in us, and fought for us.

Soon the entire invasion was revealed to be a ploy by Lex Luthor, and citizens came to Superman’s aid, fighting against actors pretending to be Kryptonians like our beloved Man of Tomorrow. We were all finally on the same side once again.

Superman using the ‘S’-shield of Luthor’s damaged android to save a young girl from Luthor’s attack, 2005. (Image: James Olsen)

Superman saved the day, Luthor was indicted, and many looked to Superman and saw a symbol of hope rather than fear. Although there were still some who looked down on him, and there still are men like Luthor who will do everything to tear him down, Superman stands tall amongst them, a beacon of optimism.

From that day forward he was our Man of Tomorrow, Champion of the Oppressed, and the iconic symbol for Truth, Justice, and the American Way.

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