What are in your opinion the biggest difference between the comic and the fanon versions of the other Batfamily members?
Fanon Dick Grayson: Fanon Dick is an extra sensitive guy who wants everyone to get along and is always happy and quippy. He’s emotionally affirming, gives out hugs often, eats cereal constantly, and depending on where you are in the fandom, his most noticeable trait is his ass. Fanon Dick is portrayed as effeminate to varying degrees and tends to be highly emotive and sentimental. His intelligence usually suffers from this treatment, and he’s often taken at face value for his quips and treated as the Batfamily’s sole comic relief. He’s spontaneous and reckless, jumping into battle without a plan and making things up as he goes along while shooting off a bunch of one-liners.
Canon Dick Grayson: In canon, Dick is balanced with a more serious persona and is often upfront to people’s faces in order to solve conflict. He’s a friendly, sociable guy who quips and jokes around, but he knows when it’s work time and when it’s play time and will always put the job first– even if it means stepping on some toes. Dick has a habit of lecturing other heroes when he doesn’t think they’re taking things seriously enough, but he’ll also coordinate, offer advice, be a listener, offer levity and give praise. Dick maintains the hero community’s respect as a leader, a strategist and as one of the most trusted heroes in DCU because of how in touch he is with his moral code. Dick refuses to compromise his morals for something he thinks is wrong and is known to be as stubborn as Bruce about it. This makes him strict, but it also means heroes can trust him to never back down on what he thinks is right. Dick is driven by his empathy for other people and will sacrifice his personal life for the betterment of others, even going out of his way for neighbors and strangers. Dick consistently puts other people before himself and tries to be there for his friends despite frequently (and paradoxically) bottling up his own emotions from them. In some cases, he seems to use his levity as a defense mechanism to avoid opening up, a skill he probably mastered through being a natural performer.
Fanon Bruce Wayne: Bruce is the Ultimate Ass Hole with absolutely no redeeming qualities. He “works alone” and is borderline abusive to everyone he works with. He’s often blamed as a deeply flawed person due to the fact that he struggles with emotions. There’s also the Ultimate Bat Dad. This version of Bruce collects orphans and dads them all in his Dadcave by being supportive and noticeably emotionally affirming in their lives. Dick, Jason, Tim, Steph, Cass, and Damian are all his “children” that he literally acts like a father to. He probably has fifty “#1 Dad” mugs.
Canon Bruce Wayne: Bruce is a complicated mix of both. Although Bruce has a reputation as an ass hole, his life first and foremost revolves around helping people. Bruce is a man of actions rather than words, and because he has difficulty being forthright about his emotions, his actions will sometimes come across the wrong way. (In Robin: Year One, Bruce fired Dick after Dick nearly died. Bruce did this out of concern for Dick’s safety, but he didn’t know how to put this into words, thus causing a situation where Dick felt rejected and like a disappointment.) Bruce doesn’t do this intentionally; he’s usually just uncomfortable or unaware of how to go about it. Over the years, the Batfamily has learned to understand and accept the way Bruce operates, while Bruce has learned how to be more of a team player to his allies (albeit, a team player who will still leave his team in the dark when it suits him). He even has an unexpected and witty sense of humor when he’s in the mood. Although Bruce does have complicated paternal-esque relationships with most of his proteges, most of the Batfamily does not treat Bruce as a dad because Bruce himself rarely acts like a dad. Although Bruce is extremely limited with positive emotions and his allies get frustrated with him easily, they still know he has a heroic streak at his core and respect him. Bruce is dependable, a man who stays true to his morals, and a mentor figure. He’s also distrustful, abrasive, holds virtually impossible expectations for other people, is difficult to work with, and can drive people up walls with how cavalier he is.
Fanon Jason Todd: Jason is the Ultimate Bad Boy. He’s hyper-sexual, hyper-masculine, hyper-aggressive, obsessed with bread, and a morally depraved ass hole. He’s often used as an antagonistic plot device, such as in Non-Con fics. There’s also a version of Jason Todd that gets misunderstood and secretly wants to be accepted back into the Batfamily. He comes across as stubborn and retains his bad boy street cred on the surface, but his desire to be accepted by the Batfamily persists to the point where he’ll stop killing and “be good.” His life’s ambition is to bond with Bruce again and be loved by the rest of the family. Even though he’s a mass murderer, this flaw gets hyper-glossed over because he’s "doing it for a good cause.”
Canon Jason Todd: Jason is a decent human being in the sense that he has a well-defined moral code that does get misunderstood– he’s against violent crimes and he strongly believes in protecting the weak. However, he’s also willing to kill and fight violence with violence, which means that he is actively breaking the law and committing mass murder (his kill count is over 100). Jason genuinely believes in what he’s doing. He believes Batman’s moral code is outdated, holding Gotham City back and not really protecting its citizens. Jason doesn’t enjoy killing, but he doesn’t seem to lose any sleep over it either. It’s a necessary evil in his eyes. While Jason takes huge issue with Bruce, it’s not because Bruce failed to save him. He understands that Bruce didn’t intend to let him die. Where Jason does hold a grudge is the fact that Bruce let the Joker live. Jason also shallowly resents Tim for being the “replacement.” Because Jason and Dick don’t have much of a relationship, their interactions are more neutral and antagonist in nature. They barely knew each other when Jason was Robin, and they’ve rarely talked since Jason came back as Red Hood. Overall, Jason doesn’t have many close ties to the Batfamily beyond Bruce and Alfred and it’s unlikely that he’ll ever return to the Batfamily’s inner fold because he truly believes Bruce’s methods are outdated and ineffective while his are making a difference.
Under the cut for Tim, Steph, Cass, Babs, Damian, and Helena.
