The Jack makes his debut about a month after the Joker's. His arrival is unceremonious.
It starts with a failed bomb plot from the Joker. Bombs meant to destroy various infrastructural areas in the city don't go off when they're supposed to. When checked, the explosives are missing key wiring components; the kind that aren't easily replaced.
It continues as a series of bad luck that feel as though they are lobbed specifically at the Joker's head.
His getaway car for a bank robbery won't start, and he's forced to steal another that can't hold up against the modified engine of the Batmobile.
His traps for the Batman fail spectacularly, and he's had to scramble for a backup plan when something meant to suspend the Bat in the air simply lays limply on the ground. Nothing more than a pile of junk.
It escalates.
His hostages of government officials with bombs strapped to their chests, forcing Batman to choose who to save? Not where they're supposed to be. No longer trapped with bombs to their chests. His goons meant to be guarding said hostages? Knocked out, missing, or not where they're supposed to be.
The bombs that used to have missing wires start disappearing completely, and no matter what tracker he puts on them, the connection always cuts out. His bombs are never seen again.
Someone's been breaking into his safehouse to steal his things. It ranges from his toolbox, to his weapons. Even as petty as his car keys. He's had to change safehouses three times, and after the third time, was caught by the Bat.
None of the other villains at Arkham are having these problems. So it's just Joker being targeted.
It comes to a head when, one day, the Joker finally has Batman trapped and helpless. He's in the middle of a monologue, showcasing his plan to poison the Gotham water supply when--
Something crashes on top of him, sending him to the ground and pinning him there.
More accurately: someone.
The Joker's little saboteur, the thing inflicting nothing but inconvenience, trouble, and problems on him for months, is a scrawny wee teenager with dark hair and a rattail.
And he's crouched on the Joker's back, his heels digging purposely into his spine.
"Wow!" Exclaims a grating boy's voice, high and perfunctory like a child's performer. "I wasn't expecting you to drop like a house of cards!"
He turns his head, and from the corner of his eye, catches the wide, jack-knife grin of a boy with unnatural, magenta eyes. White spades painted over his eyes, reminiscent of a Jester's, with black paint smeared in a thick line over his nose and temples like a makeshift mask.
He's dressed wildly, in shades of green and purple far more vibrant than the Joker's, and in patterns that make his eyes hurt. He looks like the combination of a circus performer, and a Jester. It's asymmetrical, full of stripes and swirls, and somehow, feels vaguely punk.
The boy pinches his ear like he's a misbehaving child, and pulls on it, forcing Joker to turn his head further over his shoulder to look at him.
With the attention surely on him, the boy's grin widens, his shimmering magenta eyes curving into crescents, "I'm Jack," The Joker feels like he's on the receiving end of a snarling dog. "You're pretty easy to beat."
Just letting anyone who wants to easily incorporate kryptonite into their fics set in Gotham, Red Hood/Jason detonated a truck FULL of kryptonite in Gotham trying to destroy it. (NEWSFLASH that isn't how you get rid of kryptonite). also Balck Mask smuggles kryptonite through Gotham as well as his other business.
And it wasent just the normal Green Kryptonite either the box had green kryptonite, red kryptonite, orange (possibly yellow or gold) kryptonite, and blue kryptonite.
Guys, guys, I like some DP x DC as much as the next person. It's fun. It's whimsical. There are many ✨️✨️opportunities✨️✨️ for trauma and whimsy. I'm not immune to the appeal.
But can we please, please stop with the whole "Only John Constantine knows how to deal with ghosts" or "the Justice League are government shills and wouldn't help Danny" or "The JL just straight up ignored Amity Park for bad reasons and made a kid fight all this stuff on his own."
Superman can hear a cry for help in the far reaches of the solar system and smell brownies baking from space and know exactly where they are from (ask not how smell travels from Earth's atmosphere and into a vacuum and into an air tight space station; nor how sound travels through the vacuum of space in real time for him. The rules of your so-called "physics" do not apply to him). Unless there were some serious shenanigans at play, he's hearing a call for help and answering (we don't have to recognize these feats as canon, they are quite silly, but his senses are very good).
(Superman/Batman 2008 #46) (He is under the effects of silver kryptonite here...which seems to act like weed to him. He has the munchies real bad and is craving some chocolate)
(Superman 1987 #204)
You wanna talk ghosts and Justice League, there's the ghost hero Boston Brand, aka Deadman, who Batman helped solve the murder of. He was a performer who knew Dick Grayson in the circus and died similarly to the Flying Graysons (his high-risk act was sabotaged) and the early Nightwing costume looks eerily similar to Deadman's. In some versions, Deadman helped Dick when he was learning how to do high-wire acts. Deadman just starts possessing people near an experienced Gotham Vigilante, or even Jim Gordon (Oh, yeah, Batman told me about you), and it might take a second but they're very quick on the uptake of speaking to Deadman now (Damian was not because he didn't know about Deadman yet). It's very casual for them.
(Blackest Night: Batman 2009 #1)
(Blackest Night: Batman 2009 #2)
The Speedsters can move so fast they can interact with ghosts and force them out from possessing them by using the Speed force:
(The Flash 2014 #28/#29)
Batman has dealt with so many ghosts he wouldn’t be phased by anything. He has developed ways to fight ghosts on his own with Nth metal batarangs.
(Batman Eternal 2014 #6)
Batman also treats with child ghosts kindly, multiple times. Ghosts of children being dealt with by Batman is a recurring event.
Traveling from Gotham to Austria specifically to let a spirit rest by offering her the heart of her murderer (who Batman did not kill, to be clear, he just acquired it from the corpse):
(Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight 1989 #10)
The remains of a ghost of a girl that was going to be sacrificed to trap a demon in Gotham hundreds of years ago gets buried next to Bruce's parents like his sister:
(Batman 1940 #454)
Batman comforting the spirit of a child who has been possessing people and murdering people because he's angry about his death and not being able to be with his parents anymore:
(Batman: Gotham Knights 2000 #4)
Batman knows how to summon ghosts (Deadman here, to solidify him):
(Batman/Deadman: Death and Glory 1997 #1)
Ghosts in Gotham are so regular that Robins know how to check for traces of ectoplasm when dealing with the supernatural. It is on the checklist for confirming what bullshit they're dealing with today.
(DC Pride: Tim Drake Special 2022 #1)
Speaking of ghosts and Robins, did you know that one of Young Justice's first members after the founding three was Greta Hayes, aka Secret? She had several powers, including changing her form, but she initially couldn't pass through objects like a normal ghost.
(Young Justice: The Secret 1998 #1)
(Young Justice 1998 #7)
The government agency called the DEO (Department of Extranormal Operations), had been experimenting on her and asked them to find her and bring her back, but when they found her and she told them what was really going on, they told the DEO to get fucked and helped save other metas being held at the same facility Greta had been. And then she was a part of the team until she got brought back to life and could live normally as a civilian. Young Justice is hounded by APES (All Purpose Enforcement Squad) around the globe because they helped Secret.
(Young Justice 1998 #4)
In summary, the DC heroes would not say "oh, ghosts, yeah, you’re a prank caller, bye-bye." Or help the guys in white. Or for one goddamn second believe ghosts don’t have sentience. Or not be immediately seeing red over the "Anti-Ecto Control Act." Hell, when the JL is contacted by the DEO whining about Young Justice's involvement with Secret, Batman's very clear that he does not trust the DEO. I doubt Batman, of Gotham "every government official is dirty" City, would just trust the guys in white at all.
(Young Justice: The Secret 1998 #1)
Danny would not be some marvelously weird and super special guy to them. The ghosts in Danny Phantom are a little weird compared to ghosts normally seen in DC (being more tangible, physical, and powerful), but it's not mind blowing or impossible to wrap their heads around (new species of ghost they have to learn about). He would just be another kid hero, ghost king au or not. Captain Marvel is a 14 year old boy who can look like a guy in his 30s through the 'Wisdom of Solomon.' Martian Manhunter can fly and turn invisible and shape-shift (and read minds). They have fought the concept of Death itself, Nekron, and an army of undead:
(Blackest Night 2009 #8)
Like yes, they would like to help Danny, ofc, and they would be upset if he had been captured and tortured, obviously, but nothing he could say would phase them in an earth-shattering way, alright? So many heroes and villains have died and come back to life. They've been tortured and hurt. They're just going to trauma share with Danny ("yeah, that reminds me of the time..." or "Oh, that sounds like something so and so talked about..."). They aren't going to cower before the Ghost King, or whatever title he has in the ghost king au.
You cannot have Danny be young enough to be equal to any of the Teen Titans/Young Justice and have him be this super weird thing to them. You cannot have a fully formed Justice League and have them ignore calls for help from Amity Park. It's just. It's not how they work.
Justice League Dark, the supernatural/occult branch of the JLA, is led by Wonder freaking Woman in some instances, and do you think this warrior woman who squares up with any conquering god on the regular with her god/spirit-containing Lasso of Truth is going to ignore Danny/Amity Park for "safety"? Pfffft. Nope. Pariah Dark pops up and she wants to get tagged in on the fight. Hell, she's tagging herself in for the fight.
(Wonder Woman 2016 #62) (She is trash-talking Ares, God of War, on how to use her Lasso of Truth. I love her so much.)
(Wonder Woman 1942 #607) (oh, look, her being kind to a dead spirit of a dangerous creature her allies want dead)
Justice League Dark also has the Spectre, the avenging angel of God (yes, that God. Judeo-Christian God, aka The Presence). The Spectre is a spirit, so the most powerful ghost they know.
(Detective Comics 1937 #1006) (Notice, how Batman does not give a singular flying fuck about how strong the Spectre is while arguing against the Spectre's Old Testament style vengeance?)
If you wanna go the route of Amity Park being ignored, you need to get creative with it. There was a period of time where Lex Luthor was president trying to outlaw being a superhero and Amanda Waller was in charge of the DEO, and so you can have them do some bullshit that Vlad can even get in on to isolate Amity Park, maybe that's when the Anti-Ecto Acts became a thing because Lex and Waller are meanaces. Hell, maybe even the Reality Gauntlet or DC magic using villains are the deus ex here. Or weird timeline shit after Clockwork fixes things in a Glitch in Time and the worlds are suddenly merged and believe they always were originally. Or. Maybe it's Clockwork meddling trying to mold Danny for a ghost king au. There are limitless possibilities that don't involve making the JL complete assholes/incompetent morons in ways they never would be.
There's even room for funny shenanigans. The Bat of whatever team meets Danny is told "the ghost boy in Amity is violent and dangerous" and they're suddenly there trying to help him solve his murder so he can move on and Danny’s just "???"
Maybe the guys hounding Young Justice for Secret are actually the GIW. Maybe the facility she was in had files on Danny too. Maybe Clark, Conner, Jon, or Kara get hit with silver kryptonite and track down the Fenton residence for fudge. Maybe that's how they break through whatever is shielding Amity from the world, a Kryptonian got sent to space on a silver kryptonite trip. Idfk. Bring the whimsy into it. Please. I'm so tired of the "you left us to rot because you thought we were joking" posts.
Please. Just some whimsy. Or some creativity. Or just blame it all on Clockwork. I beg of you. You can have your angst, god knows we need our angst, but just don't destroy the DC characters in the process. They're so much fun, and have such rich histories, and ghosts have been such a long standing part of their world that I would appreciate that not being ignored, even if canon is a sandbox and you can do whatever you want. I'm just tired of it, especially since some of these things predate the Justice League itself.
So I was looking through the DPxDC tag and just... Ghosts are actually like a known thing that Batman and Co. know that they sometimes have to deal with...? Batman does sometimes need to deal with supernatural threats, including spirits and ghosts among other things (Solomon Grundy is an undead gangster and tends to live in Gotham's sewers. Jason Blood can turn into the demon Etrigan and he often lives in Gotham). So Bruce and company would ABSOLUTELY believe that Danny is a ghost by the time the rest of the Batfam is there once Danny shows off his ability to turn intangible and fly.
As two examples of ghosts that are not uncommon for Batman and squad to have to deal with, on the rogues side, you have Gentleman Ghost aka James Craddock.
Who was a 19th century thief/highwayman before he was killed and cursed to never be able to pass on. He tends to travel around, stealing things and causing general mischief, so Batman sometimes runs into and has to deal with him. Also he's British by the by, so have fun with that! (Also you know. His character design is just rad as hell so I personally always love to see him pop up in things!)
And on the heroic side you have Deadman aka Boston Brand.
(Yes, he did die in those clothes.) He was an aerolist acrobat (he did much of the same type of things that Dick Grayson did at the circus) who died during a performance and was unable to pass on until he found his killer... But then decided to stick around anyway to help the Justice League out where he can. Normal people typically cannot see nor hear him, so he has to possess others to be able to communicate with the living.
So yes! Batman and family do know that ghosts exist and have dealt with them before! And in fact, they have special equipment to deal with them and other supernatural foes they may face! Specifically they have access to the material known as Nth Metal, which is able to effect and hurt ghosts even when intangible otherwise. They have batarangs made of Nth metal, but Nth metal can be used to make anything that you can use metal for. So Nth metal knuckles or handcuffs are not out of the question. Nth metal does tend to be pretty rare on Earth, but eh. Brucie is rich af so that's not much of a problem for the bats.
So there you go! Some info on Batman and his experiences with ghosts! I hope you find this useful and can use some of these pieces of information in your fics and headcanons or whatever! This has been a PSA!
I've noticed a pattern when it comes to DC x DP crossovers where when the Justice League has to deal with anything involving the Danny phantom world They are out matched and outclassed in every way.
I know most people in the DC x DP fandoms haven't ever picked up a comic, or watched DC media that wasn't animated (or sometimes haven't even watched Danny phantom) in their lives but at some point it gets ridiculous how incompetent the regular JL is made when it comes to combating the supernatural.
And as an all-things DC enjoyer this hurts me.
Like Superman, multiple times in the past has gone up against ghosts, ghosts like beings, and ghostly Abilities using his powers like for example:
Superman was able to freeze Ghost Soldier, who could turn intangible, using his freeze breath.
He could Freeze Zatanna's astral form
He was able to decimate the Phantom Stranger's physical AND metaphysical form.
He used his freeze breath to freeze the essence/spirit of H'el in time.
When the Fortress Of Solitude's security program projections were turned into ghosts, he could still blast them with his heat vision.
He withstood being stabbed through his heart and soul with magic a sword.
He tanked silver banshees scream (which affects the spirit) head on.
His super vision can also look past someone's body and mind to examine their soul.
When it comes to Wonder Woman her shield, blade, braces, lasso, tiara, and entire body are all blessed with the power of the literal gods there is no way she wouldn't be able to go straight up to a ghost and punch it intangibility or not.
Her lasso can even drag a soul out of someone's body if needed.
Same goes for Captain Marvel and his lightning.
All of Hawkman and Hawkwoman's armor (the little of it they actually wear) and weapons are made out of nth metal, which is a metal in DC that affects supernatural beings like ghost, zombies, vampire, Spirits, specters, shade's, werewolves, "the Lazarus demon" and reanimated corpses, just like any other creature no matter how strong.
Batman and Green Arrow have an entire arsenal made out of the stuff too, just in case.
In injustice both Green Arrow and Green Lantern have whole suits made out of it.
And even if you don't count injustice, (which is understandable) Green lanterns can easily have their rings copy the atomic structure of any thing they need (like kryptonite for example) and since their suits are made from their rings, they would still have no problem making a suit (or really any weapon they need out of the stuff).
Batman has a pair of gloves that John Constantine gave him specifically used to fight ghosts.
And it's been stated that the Batcave has supernatural barriers and wards to stop ghosts and stuff from getting in. (so no just casual walking into the bat cave).
And when it comes to the whole "ghost king summoning" thing I get it it's a fun concept to play around with, but the JL and JL Dark have so many other options other than to summon what they usually believe to be an interdimensional eldritch being into their world.
like the phantom zone projector something that was able to work on Mister Mxyzptlk a full-blown reality warper from the 5th dimension.
Or contacting the other supernatural experts that aren't just Constantine and Zatanna (which are usually the only contact for supernatural problems the JL has in most fic's for some reason).
Or batman just contacting the strongest supernatural being he knows, who without a doubt would come stop a major supernatural threat (as its usually depicted)
SPAWN. (The guys so op in supernatural power it's crazy)
There are so many other options than summoning the ghost king.
And in a lot of fic's the supernatural members (or just any member that would could help in a given situation) are off world (for some reason?) so they can't be contacted.
That just doesn't make much sense when the JL has the technology of so many advanced civilizations and individual people (witch some are said to be among the smartest in the universe) at their disposal, they should be able to contact their people halfway across the universe.
All of this is to say that due to widespread ignorance of the world of Detective Comics and the capabilities of its hero's (and sometimes Danny Phantom) that most DC x DP situations, stories, and scenarios end up with the Justice League a collection of the earths greatest hero's, being completely and utterly helpless and incompetent against any problems coming from the world of Danny Phantom (or just the supernatural in general).
This is to no one's fault of course, believe me no one knows all of DC lore and all it's details in its entirety.
But being someone that knows a lot about DC and seeing how useless a lot of DC characters are portrayed in most situations when you know they really wouldn't be having that much of an issue handling it, creates a weird disconnect between the two fandoms where it always seems more like the Danny Phantom fandom with DC characters stapled to it.
