Hiii, how are you? I’m new in the Batman fandom, but i saw a lot of people saying that Jason is actually Batman’s favorite child, and when i was reading the comics, i really though that Dick is Bruce absolute favorite, but i saw a lot of posts here on tumblr of the fandom saying is actually Jason and that the batkids all know its Jason, but i don’t know what is canon and what is fanon (quite honestly when it comes about the batfam i don’t like a lot about the fanon version ðŸ˜), so i wanted to ask you about it
And sorry if i said something wrong, english is not my first language
Hi and no worries at all!!
Yeah, canonically Dick is Bruce's favorite by a LONG shot and canonically the batkids all know this.
Infinite Crisis Issue #3
It's says right here in the comics. Really explicitly. But not only that, time and time again, there is clear evidence of Bruce's preferential treatment of Dick over the rest of the batkids.
One time the batboys and Bruce are searching for a guy that kinda is using the Gotham criminals as his subjects. So what they decide to do is split up to narrow him down.
Detective Comics (2016) Issue #1057
But they run into issues because the villains chose a 'divide and conquer strategy"
Detective Comics (2016) Issue #1057
Bruce gets swept away! Because of a carefully planned trap. But do you what he does the second he wakes up?
Detective Comics (2016) Issue #1058
JDAKFA;BFJALEC
BRUCE LITERALLY WENT: "I love Dick and all the other not-Dicks equally" !!!!!
As if that's not enough, Bruce's biggest fear is that he's not good enough for Dick.
Bruce's fear about Dick-
Batman vs Robin Issue #3
because he believes this -
vs
Bruce's fear about Jason -
Batman vs Robin Issue #3
because he believed he failed to do this -
Batman: Hush
Reminder: Joe Chill is Martha and Thomas Wayne's killer. Enough said.
If you want to be even more explicit about Bruce's preference for Dick over Jason it can't be clearer than here:
Bruce reflects on Jason's Robin tenure -
Batman (1940) Issue #428
Something a lot of people don't know/refuse to acknowledge is that Jason canonically did have anger issues. There aren't a lot of parallels between Jason and Dick but one particular thing that DC points out is that Jason and Dick both lost their beloved fathers. The difference is that Dick was able to move on and become cheerful even if he didn't get revenge. Jason wasn't able to get over the loss of his father and became angry. UTRH makes a specific point of talking about this too.
Batman (1940) Issue #645 "He knew that Jason Todd was NOT Dick Grayson."
Do you remember why Jason became Robin?
Batman (1940) Issue #416
Bruce wanted Dick. He took in Jason in replacement for Dick. But Jason was not Dick and even on the day he died, all Bruce could think of was that taking in Jason was a mistake.
The batkids are well aware of this. Damian actually calls Jason Bruce's mistake too when he's recounting the story of the robins.
Here's what he says -
Batman (1940) Issue #713
That's Damian's retelling. Tim's is even worse -
A Lonely Place of Dying
Ouch.
Truthfully Jason is like Bruce's 4th favorite. In order of how much Bruce loves his kids it goes:
Dick
Damian
Cass
Jason
Tim
Steph
I think there's so much confusion about Jason supposedly being the favorite because Bruce grieved over Jason's that but I think a lot of people are conflating grief and self-blame with love. There have been two significant deaths in the family: Jason and Damian. If you look at how Bruce reacted in each aftermath, it becomes clear that he loves Damian more than he loved Jason.
After Jason's death:
Batman (1940) Issue #429
Batman (1940) Issue #431
After Damian's death:
Batman and Robin (2011) Issue #21
Batman and Robin (2011) Issue #20
He would forcefully make Jason relive the worst day of his life so that his other son could enjoy his.
Bruce's behavior after Jason's death was self-destructive and isolative but his behavior after Damian's death was to beat bloodly every single criminal. His reasoning for beating Dick after Jason's death was "Jason was your replacement. If you hadn't left I wouldn't have had to take him in and he wouldn't have died." His reason for beating Jason after Damian's death was "Your trauma matters so little to mean that all I want is Damian to live again and I couldn't care less about how you feel."
In summary, Jason wasn't Bruce's favorite either as Robin or as an adult. But even if it's not Dick, claiming that Jason is the favorite is so far off that no one is DC would remotely believe it. You would think there would be more analysis on Damian's death in comparison to Jason's because they were two big official deaths but I guess not for some reason. I ran out of image space but yeah there's more than just this overall. This isn't to say that Bruce doesn't love Jason. NO! He very much loves him. But he just doesn't love him the most.
On a different note - coming from someone who went from TT show to YJ to fanfic AND THEN reading comics, I've had relearn a lot about each of the characters. But for people still in the process of transitioning from fanfic to comics or just in the fanfic stage, general rule of thumb when it comes to batfamily content - NEVER trust what people say if they don't provide the evidence for it. People in this fandom are so wild that they'll have you believing the earth is the center of the universe, that you'll fall off the world if you go too far left or right, and that pigs can fly.