like the #1 thing to point out here is that regardless of bruce's intent, what ended up happening is that the batarang sliced through jason's neck/shoulder (interpretations of the precise location can vary, sure) & there was a lot of blood, & jason didn't get up afterwards. that is a thing that did in fact happen! of course fans of jason are going to (1) have opinions about it and (2) choose to explore those opinions, whether it's in meta posts or fanfic.
the #2 thing to point out here is that the rest of the arc happened. this includes throwing two batarangs at jason, one aimed at the head and the other at the shoulder, and jason explicitly commenting this forced jason to choose which one to dodge. this includes things like bruce setting fire to jason's jacket while he was still in it. this includes learning that jason came back from the dead and deciding 'this doesn't change anything at all,' keeping the memorial case up.
aiming a trickshot so the batarang would richochet off the wall behind jason so it'd hit him at the right angle to disarm him is completely in line with everything else that happens! bruce is willing to risk bodily harm to jason (setting the jacket on fire), and capable of making skilled shots with batarangs (the two he threw earlier), and any love he feels for jason his son is not enough to outweigh his need to stop red hood the bad guy (the memorial case).
the #3 thing here is that the arc was a narrative it is a story that has been intentionally written. there is something that winick, who loves pushing characters to their limits and asking what they'd do in extreme situations where their personal convictions are tested, is trying to say here!
bruce is put in an impossible situation where he must choose between two options (letting joker die, or killing to save him) and because bruce is a hero, he chooses the secret third option where no one has to die (making a nonlethal shot to disarm jason), and this doesn't work (because the story is a critique of how batman operates).
"you found a way to win, and everybody still loses!" or however that quote goes...
if the batarang is unintentional, it changes what the story is saying, and what it means. and yes, that can be interesting to explore, but to claim it is the only valid interpretation, that it's 100% for absolutely certain what winick is intending to say, i simply can't agree. also it's extremely obnoxious and condescending.
^because let's be honest that's what this is ultimately about, isn't it? it's not about what's in character for bruce or interesting for these characters' development, or what makes under the hood the strongest as a standalone arc, it's about how hating jason and hating his fans, and hating that they're interested in exploring a comic that you personally think is out of character.
it's you can call people stupid and fake fans and get on your fucking high horse to prattle on about how people should just read the comic and if they have read the comic then it becomes about how they're just idiots who don't understand context or how to interpret pictures.
it's you getting upset because people are writing fanfiction that characterizes the batfam in ways you don't like and when you see fanon bruce kill jason unapologetically, you decide the appropriate response is to go on tumblr and say that canon bruce has never wronged jason ever, actually, and anytime he did wrong jason, jason (and by proxy, his fans) aren't allowed to be upset because bruce didn't mean to and jason was being evil anyway so clearly he deserved it, and really, bruce is the one that was traumatized by the whole affair so batman's the one you should really be feeling bad for.
the batarang incident was unintentional is not even a statement i'm against exploring. it's an interpretation of the text that's valid, and recontextualizes the rest of the arc in a way that i would be interested in talking about!
it's a shame the people pushing this narrative aren't actually interested in talking about what it means.
