Concept: Gothamites think other Heroes are Rude
Ok, so, we’ve talked about ‘what if the batfam are cryptids to everyone’ but, what if the Batfam are cryptids to the world outside of gotham, but incredibly well known and liked inside it? And the reverse is true for other heroes.
Like yeah everyone knows about superman, but none of them really know superman, you feel me?
Meanwhile literally every person in Gotham is on a first name basis with at least one of the batfam/rogues.
I think that this would leave gothamites incredibly nonchalant when meeting any other hero, and more likely to be irritated by the end of the interaction.
For example, lets say Katie the Gothamite is visiting her friend Anna in metropolis. Katie and Anna get taken hostage at a bank with a bunch of other civilians because Anna needed to make a withdrawal. So, they’re sitting there, in the huddle of civilians, Katie is sitting on the floor reading of course (bank robbery? must be Wednesday, these guys aren’t even wearing masks, bunch of amateurs probably wouldn’t know what gun etiquette was if it shot them in the face smh) when all of the others get knocked over by a blue blur speeding by, wrapping up all of the would-be robbers, pausing to wave and then floating off.
Anna: Kat! You missed it! Superman just saved us!
Anna: what do you mean yeah?
Katie: I mean, he’s like, an alien who can hear everything and move at the speed of sound, so of course he got here to save us. Not exactly a shocker. (gets up off the floor and absentmindedly dusts herself off) What would be a shocker is if he actually had the decency to be polite. I mean really, just a wave? Not even a hello? An “is everyone alright?” I get that he’s got like, bullshit alien powers and could probably tell if we weren’t, but it’s about the principle more than anything.
Anna: he’s superman! He’s gotta be really busy... Besides, how did you even know he waved, you were reading!
Katie: uh, Ann? Not my first hostage situation. You learn to multitask.
Katie: and tbh, that wave was a bit rude, you know? Like he had time to stop and wave awkwardly, he could have been doing something important like, you know, checking up on us? Honestly, no wonder Batman doesn’t like him being in Gotham.
Anna: oh, yeah, right, like ‘batman’ is any better?
Katie: look, I know you don’t believe in the Bat Clan, but you would Never catch any of our vigilantes leaving the scene without at least either checking on the victims or apologizing for leaving because there’s an even bigger crime they need to go stop. And if they do have to leave quick, you bet for damn sure that you’re gonna have a gift basket on your porch as an apology, and possibly one of the Robins knocking on your window one evening to check on you.
And it goes on like that. I just like to imagine that most superheroes are rather impersonal most of the time, but the batfamily all have attachment issues, so the entirety of Gotham is one incredibly close knit community the way other cities can’t be. Just, no one from Gotham is impressed by other heroes, and no one outside of Gotham thinks the Bats are real.