We don't talk about the actual fucking mental strength Stephanie Brown has.
This woman has held the mantle of Robin and Batgirl and has been the only person to do so. Robin - the mantle associated with dying, pressure, target for rogues and direct scrutiny and expectations of Batman and all the other Robins before you. Batgirl - the mantle that had its holders beaten and shot and stomped repeatedly until they eventually quit, the mantle that often gets overlooked simply because it has girl in its name.
Stephanie Brown is a survivor of poverty, domestic abuse and sexual assault/rape (depending on how you read the connotations) as a child. The actual fucking power you need to get up from that and keep going is unsurmountable. Like, here's this kid who has been hurt by the people who were supposed to take care of her and what does she do? She punches them in the face and becomes better than all of them.
And then when she wants to keep being a hero, she gets repeatedly put down and dissuaded by the Bigger Heroes, and what does she do? She spits in their face, goes behind their backs, and becomes better than they thought she could be.
She has been put down by Batman, Robin (Tim), Robin (Damian), her own dad, her own mom, her mentor who was supposed to train her (Barbara) and the entirety of the mentor's team, the previous Batgirl holders (Babs and Cass). And what does she fucking do?
She ignores them all and keeps fucking going.
My girl has carried and delivered a baby. Nine months of vomiting, nausea, pain, muscle aches and swoles, health problems and her insides being crushed followed by severe, unimaginable pain equal to torture pushing an entire human from your vagina as a teenager. And did she let that stop her? No. She fucking didn't.
Has anyone else carried and pushed out a baby? Nope. They've been tortured sure, but they can't measure upto Steph who has done both.
She has been abused, assaulted, harrassed, tortured, put down, underestimated, insulted, and also died, but did she quit? NOPE. She told the grim reaper to fuck itself and got out of hell with less whining than Jason. At least Jason had the luxury to hope that Batman will save him from Joker. Did she have that luxury when she was with Black Mask? Nuh uh.
My girl is tougher than nails because she probably ingested titanium along with the murder mystery books her dad had on his shelf and built herself to be the strongest woman you have ever come across who still has her whimsy and snark and I am done with people thinking she's the failure Robin and failure Batgirl. The people who were supposed to train her and look put for her failed her. She didn't fail shit you crusted ear excrement.
