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[fyeahdickandbabs]

The first time Bruce left a case because he had faith in Babs’ abilities as Oracle:

Always more caring than he lets on:

Strongest person he knows:

He wouldn’t expect anything less:

Some hugs and forehead kisses (remember when writers let Bruce have a heart?):

Bonus moment: I love when she tells him off (when he deserves it of course)

[zeldareference]

guys hes literally the sun ☀️

[giinastarr]

Ngl I made these for myself, but I thought I might as well just post them here for anyone to use. 💕

[spicy-apple-pie]

I know that it’s a common mischaracterization that Cass can’t speak. But how scary would it be if she didn’t speak as batgirl.

Like, in the beginning, she never really spoke because she felt too insecure about her pronunciation and everything to actually be intimidating. But as she learned, she just kinda kept it.

Because even Batman will speak. Sure it’s short and blunt, but he will give you an opportunity to stand down. But Batgirl will make you surrender. No questions asked, you either give up immediately, or you’re getting your ass handed to you.

There’s one singular time she spoke to someone. It was a random goon that was just handcuffed. She asked him; “do you think it will rain?” He didn’t know how to respond and just shrugged. Batgirl just nodded and disappeared into the night.

Everyone thought the guy was concussed and hallucinating.

[drbatsponge]

The saddest part about Cass being neglected in adaptations and ESPECIALLY video games is that she has one of the coolest fucking outfits of all time, like bruh she's tailor-made for concept artists to make cool ass redesigns.

[ghostapop]

situationship stephcass where they could never really date because cass will always prioritise the mission and bruce and always side with bruce even though hes been so awful to steph

[robs-your-robins]

Crack idea where non batfam heroes come to Gotham expecting the criminals to be most scared of Batman but Gothams criminals are much more scared of Batgirl (Cass.

Bonus points if the heroes don’t know about Cass’ existence

Goon: I'm afraid

Hero from another town: Batman won't hurt you

Goon: Batman? Fuck Batman. It's the smaller one - she, she - SHE'S RIGHT ABOVE US

Hero: There's nobody- WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS THAT

[casscainmainly]

your post about Batgirl vs. Orphan was beautiful! I'm so curious now what you think about BlackBat?

Thank you!!! This is an interesting question because I see Orphan & Batgirl as two sides of the same coin, but Black Bat imo has to be reckoned with separately. This is mainly due to Black Bat having really only 5 significant issues to discuss. While Batgirl and Orphan has a lot to work with, we have to fill in a lot of Black Bat's gaps, which is why Black Bat is imo the most divisive/variably interpreted of Cass' mantles. So my interpretation here is just my own!!

As I said in that post, Batgirl is a legacy from Cass' mother and Orphan is a legacy from Cass' father. But Black Bat is not a legacy at all. Black Bat is a complete departure for Cass' character because to me it symbolises disillusionment with legacy. The events leading up to Black Bat are: Cass 'kills' Shiva; Cass refutes David as her father, accepting Bruce's adoption; Bruce dies; Cass leaves Gotham and Barbara behind. She has cut herself off, or has been cut off, from all of her parents. In many ways Black Bat!Cass is more an orphan than Orphan ever was.

Cass kind of says this to Tim when he hands her the Black Bat costume in RR#17. Tim invites her back to the family, but Cass evades and states Steph is already Batgirl. Cass essentially rejects both Batgirl and her family - she accepts the suit, but she says "family is not always home..."

For Cass, for whom family has ALWAYS meant home - from growing up with David to living with Babs to fighting in Bruce's Gotham - this marks a striking turning point in her mindset. This is influenced by the evil Cass era ofc, but also by Bruce's death. The evil Cass era destroyed her redemption; Bruce's death tore out a fundamental part of her (both because she gave up Batgirl and because Cass has always seen herself in Bruce. I cannot overstate how much I think his death broke her up... the man who represented life, the man who said with her 'nobody dies tonight', the man who said "you'll always have a family as long as I'm around"... the man who is her... for him to die... OUGDHLKD).

In a similar way to Orphan this is Cass at her lowest, but kinda even lower because while Orphan had Bruce, pre-Black Bat Cass had no one. She didn't even have Gotham. But Black Bat (unlike Orphan) does not represent the isolation itself, it represents Cass' attempt to come to terms with it, not through reconnecting with Bruce or Babs or Steph but purely by herself. Black Bat symbolises her attempt to understand who she is without legacy or family.

(I HAVE discussed my hc before that Black Bat comes from Tai'Darshan's nickname for her which I believe deeply, but that also shows her disillusionment with her previous life. Taking a nickname from Tai - someone who never knew her real name - is basically Cass starting from a blank slate. Tai's death is also the thing that snowballs into Bruce firing Cass as Batgirl in BG 2000. There is so much grief involved in the name Black Bat - grief for Tai, for Batgirl, for her relationship with Bruce, and for who Cass used to be.)

This comes to a head in Gates of Gotham #4 and #5:

Black Bat's presence in Gates of Gotham is soooo interesting. If Black Bat is Cass' attempt to define herself outside her family and Gotham, what happens when she comes back to the family, to the city? In #4, Cass comes to a realisation: "It's about how you choose to see the world". This is PURE conjecture btw but I think Bruce's death + her brainwashing made Cass doubt not only legacy, but agency. Her life has been built on a deep belief in choices/responsibility, but having her no-kill code violated, her family destroyed, and be helpless to stop it? Becoming Black Bat (not Batgirl or Batman) + her exile to Hong Kong could be seen as her 'giving up' on the power of her own choices, accepting she will never truly belong in the Batfam or Gotham.

But in Gates of Gotham Cass realises that giving up on agency is not a solution. That just as she could choose to come back, she can also choose to stay - everything else is "just an excuse". Regardless of whether Cass exiled herself to HK or Bruce asked her to go to HK, either way her journey to HK was not really a choice for Cass but a necessity, just to get away from it all (which we've seen her do before after Steph's death). But now she knows that some things - her family, her city - are worth fighting for, are worth choosing, even if they can be taken away. And so she chooses to stay.

That's the arc of Black Bat for me and why it operates a bit differently from Batgirl & Orphan!!! If Batgirl is who she is at her best and Orphan is who she is at her worst, then Black Bat is a transitional state - it's Cass stripped of any identity at all. Black Bat is a legacy-less identity that leads back to Cass' belief in legacy; it isn't a permanent identity for me either because it was forged under highly specific circumstances, and works best as a temporary (if highly important) journey. I think if New 52 hadn't happened, Cass would still have ended up outgrowing the need for Black Bat and becoming Batgirl with Steph. But anyway that's my word vomit askldjgbkdgs I hope that made sense!!!

[lemons-of-ketchuppp]

Fellas, is it gay to hallucinate your best 'friend' hugging you everytime you're on the verge of death?

[but-a-humble-goon]

Would Cassandra ever have kids of her own under any circumstances? Hahahahaha. No.

Do I want Cassandra to be constantly stuck being responsible for other people's kids as much as possible for reasons of comedy? So much so you have no idea.

[robs-your-robins]

"Where do babies come from?"

It's a common question asked by children all over the world with varying answers from the stork or finding babies under a cabbage leaf but in Gotham, parents came up with the much more local version. Where do babies come from? Batman brings them, obviously. The Robins? Children that couldn't find their parents in time so Batman kept them. And bad children? Where do you think all the Bats in Gotham come from?

So I imagine Bruce being on a rooftop one time and a little kid gets the drop on him, tugging his cape and Bruce is all like, "can I help you little guy? Also, why are you awake?" and the kid is all "look, don't turn me into a bat but I want a brother, so cough up?". And Bruce is just confused as fuck until the kid explains calmly, that his mom told him that Batman brings babies and he wants a brother, not a sister and yes, he's technically breaking his mom's rule about getting out of bed but he's brought some fruit so don't turn him into a bat, please and thank you? Bruce just nods and insists on bring the kid home and for years after he's completely confused by the exchange until Tim, freshly Robin, breaks it to him. "I left you chicken bones and a can of Coors Light for a month straight because wanted a sibling," gesturing to Dick, "It kind of worked?"

[aingeal98]

Being a Helena Bertinelli fan is knowing deep down that she would be more popular if she was a man but getting annoyed every time its brought up because 9/10 times its used to attack Jason fans by people who would rather die than admit the same problem (traits that female characters demonstrate consistently in comics being assigned to male faves in fanon who don't actually demonstrate these traits canonically anywhere near as consistently) also applies to THEIR male faves. Bruce Dick Tim even Damian.

Potential nuclear take Bruce's belief that people can change and his concern for the poor? Far more inconsistent from run to run than Cass and Selina for both these traits. Fanon Dick? Stephs Batgirl run is the unknown superior blueprint. Yes fanon Jason and canon Helena are far more similar than canon Jason and his fanon version. Same for Tim and Babs, Cass and Damian. (specifically regarding their backstories. Fanon Damian talks about his childhood in a way that makes me go wow you people would love batgirl 2000 please leave the al ghuls alone) All these female characters do it better and with more depth and good writing.

Standard disclaimer that I'm discussing popular fanon I've seen in fics posts etc not saying that Every Single Fan acts like this. But that's kind of the point. Discussions that try to act like this is a Jason Fan specific issue irk me because its dismissing the wider misogyny prevalent in fandom and the actual core problem, which is that people would rather invent a whole new fanon character as long as its a man and wax poetic about how amazing and important and well written they are because of these traits, rather than read comics starring female characters who actually you know. Are all that in canon. And this isnt a problem because it means X fans are annoying. I mean it IS but like. The primary reason its bad is because what it says about the state of misogyny within the fandom. Not because They're Getting The Character Wrong. Its about why.

And ultimately? Its not just fanon. Its been bleeding into canon more and more since the New 52 (where they destroyed every single female character one way or another to try and fit the 4 fanon batboys into canon in a way that just. Did not work.) and its fascinating and horrifying to watch. Feedback loop of bigotry between dc comics and its fans.

Tldr "stealing" character traits is not a straightforward single process and using it to hate on a single character instead of analysing the bigger picture is really starting to grate on me. Ok Batman icon pfp saying Jason fans want him to be Helena. Name 5 Huntress comics you've read and 5 times she suffered worse than Jesus. Please. I'm not gatekeeping I just really want to talk about her so if you're bringing her up lets do that!

[thesulkycroissant]

Batgirl (2000) #15

Some of the wildest stuff yet. AND she takes off the mask first in recognition that she can't be Batgirl anymore once she does it. I will scream.

[thesulkycroissant]

Batgirl (2000) #8

Sorry but Cass is the funniest person in the world

[garpen]

Just thinking about how well Koriand'r would blend in in 2010s New Jersey. Anybody else watch Jersey Shore?

Why is her skin orange? Uh duh, it's her tan. All the bitches wish they can have a tan as good as her.

Her muscles? Obviously she's hitting the G in GTL. Gym Tan Laundry baby!

And her hair? The bigger the better baby!!

Koriand'r would be so confused the entire time if she were in an episode, but she'd blend in so so well!!

[thesulkycroissant]

Batgirl (2000) #8

She's so funny AND no one told me the person she was talking about was literally Shiva, top tier

[nina-s0]

I think it would be so funny if a reporter accidently overhears one of the waynes insult batman under their breath, and like everyone is just flabbergasted till they realise that these are the Wayne's. Of course they know (and have beef) with batman.

--

Tim, in a interview, trying to explain Wayne stocks or sum idk: well, yk Wayne industries wouldn't have to pay for so many building repairs if fucking batman stopped throwing bane into buildings-

Interviewer: what was that, Mr drake?

Tim: what was what?

Interviewer: right. What do you think Mr Wayne?

Bruce: ...

Bruce: fuck batman.

--

Dick, being bombarded with paperazzi after a kidnapping: oh ffs couldn't batman save me from these snakes too.

Dick: I'm gonna fucking kill him.

Reporters: ???

--

Kid recording a tiktok: hey! Mr Todd! What do you say about the rumors that the Wayne's hate batman?

Jason: huh?

Kid recording, shoving the phone closer to jason: thoughts on batman?

Jason, leaning into to the mic: fuck batman.

--

Someone recording with shaky hands: *Duke Thomas walking out of a private gym, clearly having worked out and looking exhausted*

Duke: fuckass batman, I'm gonna beat his ass.

--

Street kid #2: hey batman! Have you heard what the Wayne's are saying these days?

Batman: *batman noise*

Street kid: do u have a message for Bruce Wayne?

Batman, leaning in: Bruce, say it to my face next time you little bitch.