I love that he is still recognizably Kon despite how their worlds diverged. I love how he is still just as naive about the world as Kon is/was and how much he is convinced he is doing the right thing. I love how he pushed away the S shield to become Black Zero but he still forfeited individuality because Black Zero was the name of a resistance group - not a person. He STILL at the end of the day struggles to see himself in the singular, but more as something bigger, like the concept of Superman but very, very different.
12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?
He's absolutely gay and Westfield hates this so fucking much but just tolerates it because he has no choice.
14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.
Alternative modern with a flare for geometry prioritizing black and gold.
The thing about Black Zero is that he is just as naive and ignorant about how the world works as his teenager self was despite being physically an adult and having more information in his head. Black Zero doesn't really have a clue how to BE Superman at all, only what it is supposed to look like and how people are supposed to receive him - when it doesn't work that way at all, it throws him, so of course he leans on Paul Westfield for support.
The best thing Black Zero ever did for himself was that he did genuinely decide to take a step away from ever being Superman, but his discovering his new identity still came from a place of trying to connect with Superman in the Fortress of Solitude.
It was there he saw the history of the Kryptonian Clone Wars and came up with the name Black Zero in the first place - the name was a movement and a rebel group, not a single person.
Even after finding an identity of his own it wasn't a singular name, but an idea and representative of something he believed in so Black Zero still didn't really have a personal name or identity.
Just like Kon for a very long time who didn't HAVE a name, only a title that meant something bigger.
Black Zero just drives me wild because he is still so recognizably Kon in every way just twisted by desperation.
that last post about bvs and dick has me thinking like. All of Bruce’s kids have this immediate instinct every time they hear about some horrific event going on in Gotham. It comes on the news and they immediately think “dad will be there soon”. Maybe they’re in daily life or maybe getting suited up to show up and help, but they all instinctually know Bruce is going to be on the way or already be there, regardless of what the situation is. They know him and know he’s on the way to save people immediately. And if he ISNT there that means he’s locked up with something else (which they need to figure out) or something is wrong (which they also need to figure out)
And maybe Dick thinks, bitterly, that Bruce is so wrapped up in Gotham, during Black Zero of course his attention would be there, minimizing the destruction that made it across the bay.
And then Dick turns on the TV and sees Bruce not just in Metropolis (leaving Gotham behind) but running INTO the destruction there. Because his office in Metropolis is still his people and he’ll always come for his people. And if Dick can depend on him to do that, then he knows — in his heart — that Bruce will always come for him, too. No matter where he is.
Thank-you sentences for starrykid; “den mom Black Zero”.
(( chrono || non-chrono ))
"Oh, yeah, that was like . . . a thing, also," Superboy says, half making a face and half just outright wincing. "A real weird thing, for the record. Normal people don't collect themselves like new-in-box action figures, dude. So like, I feel great about what a creep of a supervillain I'd apparently be if it ever came up, very reassuring shit to learn about myself there."
"Would you have rather I murdered them all?" Black Zero asks dryly.
"I don't know, man, it just would've been less weird if you'd murdered them!" Superboy says in exasperation. "Like you murdered plenty of other people!"
"You're still conflating warfare with murder," Black Zero says.
"And I am gonna keep conflating warfare with murder as long as you were the dude personally starting the warfare!" Superboy snaps, throwing his hands up. "You didn't have to keep doing that, asshole! You only maybe had to do it the first time, and probably not even then!"
"I'm aware that's an opinion you've been given," Black Zero says. None of the other Superboys had grown up enough to find out how their worlds were inevitably going to treat them and everyone like them, when their worlds found out just what Cadmus had made. This one's no different from the rest. None of them have been, after all.
But this one's going to grow up, and Black Zero will be here for it.
WIP excerpt for Jan behind the cut, who gave me a list of “dealer’s choice” picks and is getting “den mom Black Zero” ( again, haha ).
(( chrono || non-chrono ))
"I guess Supes could just check up on things whenever he and the Kid meet up . . ." Green Lantern trails off, frowning skeptically. "Just—you know, however often you two usually do that, I mean."
"Yeah, that'd be fine, right?" Superboy interjects eagerly, immediately jumping on the suggestion. "I dunno how often normal parole officers check in or whatever, but we see each other at least every few months, so that'll work, yeah?"
". . . you live and work at Project Cadmus and see Superman 'at least' every few months," Black Zero says, staring down at the brat in blank incredulity. Not even weeks? Really? "Is your Cadmus not directly outside Metropolis?"
"Huh?" Superboy frowns at him, obviously confused. "No, it is. What's that got to do with anything?"
Black Zero really, really thought that Superman actually talked to them. Was that really such an irrational assumption to make, after literally every single conversation he's ever had with one who was from a reality that still had a Superman in it? Really?
Apparently, yes.
Green Lantern—well, the Green Lantern, anyway; not like there aren't a few thousand different options for those, and this one actually isn't one Black Zero's seen before, even though he looks at least human enough to pass for one—leans towards the kid, looking briefly skeptical.
"Every few months?" he repeats, his tone just barely careful.
"Yeah?" Superboy says, wrinkling his nose at him. "I mean, maybe that's too much, like I said, I don't know how normal parole officers do this shit. It, uh, has literally never once been relevant in my life, like . . . literally ever, pretty sure?"
"Your life as a vigilante who has presumably been directly responsible for multiple people ending up in prison?" Black Zero asks dubiously. "That life?"
"Well Knockout's not getting parole anytime soon," Superboy mutters sourly, and then—frowns, and glances sidelong towards the nearest wall. "I mean. Probably not, anyway. I dunno."
"Someone in this backwater reality actually put together a prison that could hold her long enough for the concept of parole to even be relevant?" Black Zero asks, almost impressed. Grudgingly, but still.
"There's like, some anti-grav manacles and shit involved, keeps her from—actually it's extremely fucked-up, the guards wouldn't even tell me how long they keep her in those or if it's just a visitation thing or—uh," Superboy cuts himself off with a grimace, then eyes Black Zero warily. "Dude. What's with the face?"
"It's the same face you're wearing, so I don't see why you have to ask that question," Black Zero deflects dismissively, then raises an eyebrow at him. "Why do you even know what's going on with her incarceration? I thought yours wasn't 'amenable' to you."
"She is definitely not, no," Superboy mutters, then scowls defensively. "I don't know, man, I just, like—visited, once or twice, it's what the fuck ever. I don't wanna talk about this shit with you, alright?"
"Would 'once or twice' be 'more often than every few months'?" Black Zero asks dubiously. Superboy turns red, then scowls at him.
Fucking hell, Black Zero thinks.
Maybe this reality is just the reality where Superman is an antisocial creep, he debates internally. Everything he's ever heard about Superman did imply the man was the type who came across as very open and friendly and communicative right up until someone was five years into knowing him and realized they'd not only never been to his house, they weren't even sure if he had a house. So the antisocial version of that . . .
Well, that one it'd be a miracle if Superboy saw every few years, considering.
Though there's worse things, obviously, than ending up in a reality whose Superboy has apparently never met adult supervision.
At least, worse things for Black Zero, because that means a reality where Superman isn't going to be getting in the goddamn way every time he tries to explain things to the kid.
"Why do you even bother visiting your ex-situationship who despises you?" Black Zero asks as he slants his eyes back to the brat, and Superboy scowls even darker at him and folds his arms, bristling defensively.
"I dunno, asshole, why did you keep every fucking one of us you didn't win over in a fucking stasis pod instead of just offing 'em?" he snaps back snidely. "What, were you taking them out on rotation to try and win 'em over again?"
. . . Black Zero refuses to consider any possibility of parallel decision-making processes being involved there. That is just not a potential realization about himself that he is either prepared or willing to process right now.
He also refuses to dignify any of that with a response. It wasn't a rotation, anyway, it was—not the damn point.
WIP excerpt for Jan behind the cut, who gave me a list of "dealer's choice" picks and is getting “den mom Black Zero”.
(( chrono || non-chrono ))
Batman says absolutely nothing, which is about as "Batman" a response as to be expected.
"Depends on how good yours is at keeping them alive," Black Zero replies dryly, because he does in fact need to know where to stick the lever; when he'll have to drag this stupid kid out by the neck and who he'll have to kill to do it.
Batman doesn't move his head at all, but those flat white lenses aren't enough to hide his eyes sliding back to Black Zero. They aren't even enough to hide where he's looking from a Superboy, stupid as those are.
The human eye isn't perfectly round, is the thing, and even if it were, it's not like the ocular nerve is any harder to feel.
Which is something any Batman that knows them knows, so . . .
So it's deliberate, Black Zero is sure, when Batman's eyes slide over to Superboy instead.
Everyone in this conversation wants to know where to stick the lever, after all.
"I—shut up, Jesus!" Superboy hisses, clenching his fists and looking some cross between mortified and furious. "What is wrong with you, oh my god, you are such an asshole!"
. . . alright, everyone in this conversation except for one idiot, Black Zero reflects resignedly, and just eyes him.
"It's the third one, isn't it," he says resignedly, because of goddamn course it's the third one. This reality is exactly stupid enough to let the third Robin have an actual outside-Gotham team's worth of impressionable teenagers. At least Nightwing has more personality issues when it comes to extended relationships. At least the second Robin was a loner. Or is, depending on the timeline. The third Robin, though—that brat's the genuinely social one.
Legitimately. Legitimately, he's social. He's social in Gotham, for fuck's sake. And not just until Batman pisses him off enough to run back to Bludhaven or San Francisco or straight into a crowbar! He socializes in Gotham, and Black Zero has not found a single reality in which even Batman managed to piss him off enough to make him quit the job! Not even one!
Black Zero suffers.
"Why the fuck would I know that?!" Superboy demands.
"You don't have to," Black Zero says, because half the League members in the room's heart rates had changed when he'd said "third", but especially because Batman's heart rate hadn't done a thing when he'd said it. "For one thing, he's the genuine worst option to have to put up with as being in charge of your little after-school club aside from that little pill with the resistance on 0027-Gold, and that's only because that one's a Robin and also a you."
"You are also a me, for fuck's sake, why are you so fucking weird about everything, dude," Superboy gripes, like Black Zero didn't very explicitly explain exactly why he's like this to him; why he's learned better than to be anything but this, and why he should learn the same. "And hey, you don't even know if Rob's in charge of us, I could be in charge of us! I've been in charge of teams before! You've been in charge of literal realities before!"
"I know he's in charge of you because he's the most personally-aggravating possible option to be in charge of you," Black Zero replies dryly, and Superboy . . . pauses, then makes a face.
". . . okay, fair, yeah," he allows grudgingly, lowering his clenched fists.
Ugh.
Black Zero would honestly rather put up with the starfish. The starfish is so much better than literally every other possible Robin he has ever encountered across all of Hypertime. The starfish is in fact genuinely likeable, which is not something Black Zero has had very much cause to say about anyone in any reality. And the second Robin he can at least respect the practicality and drive of, and Nightwing he can respect the skills and effectiveness of, annoying as said effectiveness is. Most of the Robins have some redeeming quality or another, in fact; most of the Bats do, even.
The third Robin, though. The third Robin is just an absolute nightmare. Also, both directly and indirectly responsible for so many problems in both 0027-Gold and just his life in general.
He is never, ever cloning another Robin.
"You could at least have had the decency to be from a Jarro reality, you little bastard," Black Zero mutters under his breath, pushing his sunglasses up into his hair. Would that really have been too much to ask?
Vril Dox II would 100% lend support to Black Zero not only because he killed his father (on accident) but because he too is a clone and he recognizes that Black Zero is trying to end clone oppression on Earth. Unfortunately for Vril Black Zero don't fuck with his methods. Vril tries to talk sense into him that he can't possibly achieve what he wants to achieve by hoping people will just change their minds, he will need to actively fight.
Black Zero doesn't believe him at first, because even though he is an adult physically he is still ignorant about how the real world works.
But things quickly start unraveling and he accepts that assistance.
