#whatver

DUKE PILOTING... do you guys REMEMBER that the first time Duke (as Robin) helped Batman he was piloting an airship!!!!!! In the second panel from Batman (2011) #50!!! Both these being Snyder-written texts ohghgsdklbkl I just love this so much I'm sure it's not intentional but it's intentional TO ME.

Also the "fallen through this city's many cracks" connecting to the Bruce-Duke motif of falling & catching, particularly to Batman (2011) #44 where the whole issue was about the people who fall through the cracks!!! I'M CONNECTING ALL THE DOTS

I also think this is the first time we've ever seen Duke's signature! Obviously this is an Elseworlds but still yayy I love that it's so simple and the trailing S. Wow I'm just yapping I've missed him so much 😭😭

Duke being taller than Tim is an automatic -1000000 points Nick Dragotta or whoever did this you will pay. That aside I wonder why Steph and Duke are the only ones without numbers??? Like weird oversight if that's a mistake but maybe it is more significant than that? I know Tim, Duke, and Steph seem to be the same rank on the cover (they are all one stripe) so idk how the numbers differ from that.

Sidenote that in the reference sheets it's revealed that Duke is SEARCH AND RESCUE. THAT'S LITERALLY DUKE CORE!!! Duke having the role that is extremely active & focused not on fighting but directly on rescuing people!!! Also his panel being focused on piloting makes sense in that light. ALSO ALSO never forget that iconic moment where ASB Duke rescues Bruce by driving his car into KGBeast, just like he saved Bruce as Dukebin from the airship. He was BORN for search and rescue!!!