I need people to stop getting so precious about Clark "not letting" Bruce kill the Joker after Jason’s death post-Crisis. Everyone acts like it was like this:
But it was more:
So, we all know the story. Actually. Wait. Maybe we don't. So. The story beneath the cut.
Jason got benched as being Robin because he was not dealing well with his parents' deaths, felt like he was no longer wanted because he was adopted specifically to be Robin (and Bruce is shit at making his kids feel loved a lot of times). Jason discovered the woman who raised him was his step mother, not his bio mother. He goes looking for bio mom. Finds bio mom, she hugs him and tells him she's missed him so much, Bruce contemplates letting Jason live with his family if that would make him happier despite being obviously cut up about the idea of losing Jason. Bio mom is being extorted by the Joker to let him ship out Joker Venom disguised as medical supplies because he can't just steal the supplies and sell them. Bruce has to go stop the shipment of Joker Venom, his portable chopper is too small for two, so Jason is left behind. Jason is told to wait, but The Killing Joke just happened and his bio mom is alone with the Joker (who is insane, capricious and evil), so, obviously he has to save his mother and could not wait. Bio Mom is outside, no guards, Jason says, "Hey, I'm actually Robin, I'm here to save you from the Joker" and she says "Nah, he's actually gone, so I'm fine. But let's go inside so I can grab my things and we can leave." Her things turn out to be a gun to point at Jason after leading him to the Joker. Jason is too stunned to move. The Joker and his goons beat Jason up and then the Joker uses the crowbar to finish beating him to a presumed death. His bio mom at some point couldn't bear to watch it anymore and turns around to smoke a cigarette. Once Joker’s done, bio mom asks what they're going to do about Batman, and the Joker is all "oh. Yeah, lol. Probably was a bad idea to kill his kid. Whoops. My bad." And then ties up the bio mom to kill her and erase any evidence he brutally attacked/killed Jason. The Joker sets a bomb on a timer and leaves. Jason uses the last of his strength to untie his bio mom so she can escape. He can't see well enough to try and disarm the bomb. She tries to get them both out. The door is locked. Jason shields her as the bomb goes off, but she dies just as Batman comes up and tells him the Joker did it, calls Jason a hero, says he deserved a better mother (he did) but does not/is unable to own up to her part in Jason’s death before dying herself. Bruce finds Jason’s body and is fucking devastated.
So after that, Bruce chases the Joker down to the UN because the Joker lucked into being a diplomat for Iran and is now meeting at the UN assembly in New York. Bruce is 100% set on doing a premeditated murder of the Joker for Jason. The US government is aware of this. They hire Superman to grab Batman to try and talk him down because the Joker has diplomatic immunity for past crimes. It does not go well.
"That’s the law, not Justice." Batman is 100% still going to kill the Joker. Everyone knows. Superman knows. Superman says the stupid thing is putting vengeance above the interests of the country, not killing Joker.
Batman sneaks into the Joker’s room, and the Joker (forgetting his earlier desire to not get fucking killed by Batman) is like "oh man, I wish I could have seen your face when you found his body" and further needles Bruce with a "Or are you here to thank me for getting rid of him for you?" Making Bruce triple down on killing the Joker.
"Your confirming it makes what I have to do a lot easier."
Bruce manages to get in to observe the UN meeting as Bruce Wayne. Superman is disguised as a guard. Bruce is seething, watching the Joker, knowing that is the guy who killed Jason.
"I should have terminated his vile existence years ago. But I didn't. I couldn't. His insanity gained him a stay of execution. But no longer. ... Jason’s dead."
They both know the Joker is too stupid and lacks the impulse control needed to not attack the UN and immediately lose his immunity, which is the only thing keeping him alive. Joker releases Joker Venom to kill the delegates. Superman super breathes to inhale all the gas, which he's immune to because he's Superman and then says this as he leaves to go find a place to release the poison gas safely.
"Batman, he's all yours."
Superman basically says "You can kill him now" because he knows Batman’s mind has not changed, and Superman had not once tried to say "killing Joker would be wrong" just that it couldn't happen before the Joker acted in a way that lost him his immunity.
And Bruce does go to do just that. He chases the Joker down, intent to kill, and jumps onto the helicopter the Joker is using to escape. One of the guys fires at Batman. It shoots the pilot, hits the Joker in damn near his heart, if not his heart, and Batman realizes the helicopter is going down and decides to jump and leave the Joker behind. He intends for the Joker to die in the crash.
Okay? Bruce was 100% going to kill the Joker for killing Jason. Superman said "hang on. Let him get enough rope to hang himself first and then you can do it." And then Joker only survived because comic books. And Bruce is unhappy about having to wait. Superman did not try to talk Bruce out of killing the Joker at all ever, or scold him for wanting to kill the Joker. (Don't say he was rescuing the Joker in that last panel. The next panel is Superman fishing Batman, who is shot in the arm, from the harbor, and Batman telling Superman to go find the body. Find the body! And Superman does go to do just that, but is unable to).
Okay, so there are two Gotham born and raised bat fam members who are always being said to have grown up in the wrong neighborhoods and it drives me insane. And like, canon is a sandbox and all that and if you want to imagine something different for your goofy scenarios or fan fiction or whatever, that's cool. I just want to set the record straight for anyone who doesn't know the facts first. Know the rules before you break them and all that.
This is the official map of Gotham from No Man's Land, and the updated Post Flashpoint version with the Narrows.
Jason Todd
Always being put in the Narrows. The Narrows didn't exist when he was first introduced. It's a new neighborhood, speaking for canon. I get it. It's a lower income neighborhood with new relevance given that it's where Duke Thomas grew up.
Jason Todd is from Park Row, an area that once had the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor but became known as Crime Alley after the Waynes died outside the Monarch Theater in Park Row and became one of the lowest income and highest crime rate areas of Gotham. Period. Jason Todd and Bruce Wayne meet in Park Row because Bruce parked his Batmobile there, near the theater, on the anniversary of his parents' deaths and Jason stole the tires. He made Bruce laugh on the anniversary of his parents' deaths near the spot where they died. It's very important to his character and his relationship with Bruce that he is from Park Row/Crime Alley.
(Batman 1940 #408)
Stephanie Brown
I see her dropped into Crime Alley or the Narrows a lot as well. I get it. Like Jason, her father is a criminal who did a lot of prison time and her mother has a drug addiction problem. Her similarities with Jason are likely why she was treated so poorly and why not double down and have her grow up in the same neighborhood as him? However, Jason’s father was, for lack of better word, goon for Harvey Dent (the Penguin post Flashpoint) and died in prison by Harvey (or didn't and became...you know what? Nevermind. I disregard all post Flashpoint background for Jason anyway), whereas Stephanie's father is the B-List criminal Cluemaster. She grew up in the Coventry, a suburban neighborhood within Gotham. Her mother worked at West Mercy Hospital. She might not have had a lot of money, but she was never living on the streets and stealing car parts to survive.
(Robin 1993 #60)
And yes, Stephanie was pregnant as a teen, and gave birth to a child she gave away for adoption. She got pregnant by a boyfriend who left her immediately before she started dating Tim, and Tim helped her out through her whole pregnancy. Including taking her to lamaze classes in disguise or disguising himself as a nurse in the hospital when she was in labor. She did not cheat on Tim.
You know what?
Tim Drake
Do I also like to pretend sometimes that the Drakes had the manor next to Wayne Manor for a long time and never sold it? Yes. I understand the appeal. But it's not a fact.
The boy actually never had a stable home his entire career as Robin, and that likely was not a recent trend. His parents had many properties within Gotham City, a penthouse in Robinson Park and so on and so forth. Tim grew up in boarding schools, went to public school while as Robin before being sent back to boarding school by Jack because he kept ditching class for Robin, and then back to public school before dropping out to find Bruce. His housing situation was never much better, as he never lived in one place with his parents for more than 6 months at time. Here, this goes into it better.
“It’s the only place we’ve lived more than six months in.” Thinking about this and mentally re-evaluating my speculations on where Tim lived
Another thing I need people to stop just saying like it's the truth is that Bruce picked up Tim as Robin immediately after Jason died, or that Tim forced his way into being Robin.
Now, of course, there is the caveat that Jason can come back into town thinking that it was the case, he was dead and Talia informed him of the changes in Gotham, so we don't know how accurately he was informed. Another caveat is that Tim can grow up thinking he forced his way into it because he does argue for it at a point, but I need no one else who had a fully developed mind and was there saying it. Okay? Okay.
So, let's tackle the first one. Jason Todd gets an official death certificate in the Daedalus and Icarus Annual explaining how he came back showing his date of death as 4/27/19xx (since comics are always meant to be contemporary unless stated otherwise, we can just ignore the year). The DC Encyclopedia had a death certificate too, but it had a lot of odd details, not least his height and weight being more in line for a 10 year old than a 15 year old (the Titans comic put his height at 5'4" when he died), so I'm going to use the comics certificates over that when they conflict, but the Batman Annual also lists his date of death as 4/27 (why is it a Gotham City Death Certificate when he died in Ethiopia? I have no clue).
(Batman Annual 25)
(New Titans Vol 1 55)
(DC Encyclopedia)
Tim Drake appears after Jason dies when Bruce Wayne is going a little crazy as Batman. He specifically shows up during a break week from school.
(Batman 1940 #441)
Given that he could only have a Break Week feasibly in November for teacher conferences, December for Christmas/New Year's, or March/April for Easter, and the greenery outside show that it's neither November nor December, he's therefore shown up for his Spring Break. Since that would never be after April 27th, then he has to be there at least the first Spring Break following Jason's death, so about a year later.
He shows up and begs Dick to become Robin again to save Bruce from himself.
(Batman 1940 #441)
You see, this is interesting. He's explaining all his best qualities, not as a way to say "I'm right for the job" but to awkwardly (as only Tim Drake can) explain how much Batman and Robin mean to him, and how much they've influenced his life, to show how committed he is to this idea to back-up his assessment that Batman needs Dick as Robin again.
Dick is very adamant in his refusal to step back into the Robin role.
(Batman 1940 #441)
Both Alfred and Dick(Maybe? unless it's just Alfred being the drama again, but Dick did leave his old Robin costume out on the side before leaving) suggest Tim should pick up the costume. And he does only hours later, when Dick and Batman's signals have disappeared after going to confront Two-Face. Tim is feeling guilt over Nightwing possibly being dead because he got involved, he's worried sick about his heroes, and Tim has to go help because he is not built for sitting back and worrying.
(Batman 1940 #442)
At this point, he does start trying to convince both himself and Batman that he should be Robin, but only seriously after Alfred and Dick start hyping Tim up as well. Bruce is not having it. Like. At all.
(Batman 1940 #442)
They go to track down Two-Face and the confrontation ends with Tim nearly getting crushed to death as a pile of cars in the junkyard are toppled over onto the Batmobile, where he's been instructed to wait.
(Batman 1940 #442)
The confrontation ends with Bruce punching Two-Face and telling him that he can't kill Batman or Nightwing (Or Robin?) Or Robin!
Afterwards, after all the adrenaline has worn off and they're back in the manor in their normal clothes, Tim starts to back off of being Robin. He's still super stoked for having had the chance to fight criminals with his heroes, he's 13, give him a break. Please and thank you.
At this point it is Alfred, Dick, and Bruce who cement Tim going into training to become Robin. Yes, because of his logic, but also, like. I think Bruce knows deep down he needs someone to work with just as much as everyone else does. And Tim already knows his secret, and this is the easiest way to keep him quiet. Also, Bruce. Fucking. Communicate better. Jesus.
(Batman 1940 #442)
And then Tim's training begins, but he won't become Robin until the following Christmas. And only after he saves Bruce because he's been captured by Scarecrow and is being tortured with fear toxin with Vikki Vale. Tim was ordered to stay home, but again, he is incapable to standing back and not helping when he thinks there's a problem (this is a good and heroic character trait). This time, he doesn't wear the costume because he can't bear the idea of failing in it, so he dons a ski mask and comes in, gets dosed with fear toxin while saving Batman and beating Scarecrow and runs away before the cops show. Tim believes this means he'll never be Robin, that Bruce will fire him from training, but at least Bruce is alive. When Tim explains this all to Bruce, Bruce says the rules are there for a reason, but sometimes it's okay to break them when justified and gives Tim a new Robin costume.
I've seen posts floating around trying to suggest new names and new costumes for him, and I've seen really great designs (u/Hunkerdown_son's Gray Ghost suit) that I like a lot more than what he's gotten. (Poor kid's gone back to Robin and was feuding with Damian about who's the better Robin? Like, boy, you could be in college, you are a whole-ass adult now, god damn, can the writers let you develop). There's Cardinal, Flamebird, Redbird, every red bird there is. And like, I get it, Red Robin was one of his more iconic runs (pre-Flashpoint), his OYL costume was primarily red, he was Red Robin wearing basically a Robin costume for a little while there too.
One of the name's I've seen is Rook. And that fascinates me. I actually had a hazy image of it pop into my mind, like a terrible "got any more pixels?" JPG picture of an artbook all zoomed-in and blown out one, of what that might look like.
(Artist's recreation of the above described image)
So I made it.
(Look, I know. I know. That is not how "Rook" would be stylized for the logo, but listen, listen. Cursive k basically has a mini-R in it and I was having fun with this. Okay? I don't draw much these days and I'm not a comic artist/graphic designer. I do math for a living.) (I spent very little time on the logo for Blackbird, but you get the idea. The "R" gets twisted nicely into a "B" for Blackbird, in my opinion.)
Design choices and everything below. Very stupidly long.
Rook first because I know the color is going to be a sell.
Rook is a bird in the corvid family, with crows, so they're exceptionally smart birds. Rooks are also the name for the chess piece that can perform the trickster maneuver called castling where they trade places with the king (It's not hard to do, necessarily, just like, a 4D move compared to the normal chess moves, and not something the average person knows about). Being that he's been relegated to the "boy genius" role and he is vicious and cunning with his mind more than almost anything else (See Robin #137's "Show your face here again and we'll frame you for the kind of crimes even other hardened kills don't condone or forgive" speech, him blowing up the LoA's computers in Red Robin #8 after somehow creating a program/virus on their systems while under constant supervision, or all of Red Robin's "The Hit List" arc). (I know he's not the only one who can do or has done, things like this, but he does it a lot, is my point).
Rooks, the birds, as a symbol of death are also fascinating to connect to Tim. He's never "died" like the other Robins have, but his mantra in his introduction is basically "Batman needs a Robin." Because Batman/Bruce has been traumatized by losing his son, Jason, and is spiraling, dialing up the violence towards criminals, dialing down his ability to care whether or not he survives, destroying his interpersonal relationships in the process. Death as a symbol can mean the literal figurative death, but it also can mean the end of a phase of life, of letting something go, and moving onto a new chapter.
And that's what Bruce needed to do. He, of course, would always miss Jason, but he needed to move past the pain, move past the agony, become what Batman was supposed to be again. Tim's the one who got him there. He's the one who convinced Bruce to open that new door. Tim's the one who put the "family" in Bat-Family because Bruce sure as shit was not going to do that. Here, this post explains that a bit more eloquently.
Rooks, the birds, are also blue/purple in color, which I think is great for Tim. I know, I know, everyone wants him with red. I get. I really, truly, get it. But let's just...take a step back and go outside of the box a little for his color. Now, I know, not everyone keeps the same color consistently (the number of times Nightwing has just bounced between Blue and Red, for example), but there is usually a "main" color strongly associated with each member of the Bat-Family.
Nightwing gets blue, duh (and also bluebird). Red Hood gets red (and also Nightwing when he's having a shit time and also Kate Kane's Batwoman and also Damian's Redwing). Damian's Robin often gets green (though I low-key associate green with Tim's Robin more than Damian's, Tim's no longer going to be Robin here, so Damian can have it). The Signal gets yellow (and so does Cass's Batgirl/Black Bat/Orphan). Stephanie as Spoiler/Batgirl has purple (and so does Huntress and Barbara's Batgirl). And Oracle gets lime green.
We don't need any more red symbols in the family. It's already out of hand without throwing Tim in there. And out of all the siblings, he's the only one without a distinct color.
Anyway. If we dip into tertiary colors, we can fix all of that. I made a mock-up of what I mean drawing the symbols mostly by memory in a few minutes. For Huntress/Helena Bertinelli, I just used her mask.
See how Tim as Rook gets to be wedged in between Nightwing's blue and Stephanie's purple with Violet? Tim Drake is a Dick Grayson fan first, Nightwing fan second, and person a distant third, so going more blue with his scheme is a much better fit. You could come up with a name for him to be teal, but violet is better for Rook, and like he's also close to Stephanie's Spoiler/Batgirl colors and say what you will of his relationship with her, she is important to his character as friend/girlfriend/friendly-ex. And Dick went from "Red/green/yellow" to "Blue/black" so Tim can go from "Red/green/yellow/black" to "violet/black."
Oh, and it lets him get his "R" back. The one from the 90's that's just so iconic that he was literally introduced with as Robin. If we can have a million different bat symbols then we can have two different R's floating around and no one will be confused.
And anyway, with all of that in mind, and that terrible image haunting me, I decided to draw a quick reference sheet for what Rook might look like. I think I spent like 2 hours on the final version, with an hour and a half on sketches I hated/deleted. Anyway.
I had a nice dark green in here instead of sky blue and a dark purple instead of dark blue, but then I was looking at the purple/green and "I'm in dangered" my way out of the Joker color-combo.
Instead I decided, since he's a young person and the violet I chose was sort of blacklight-esque, then why not make him look like some kinda blacklight glowing guy. The youth these days still love that kinda stuff, right? And it ties into the themes of being a light in the dark and crime-scene stuff and all that. The colors came from how lead glass reacts under black light, and while I imagine the violet parts do show up in black light, it's the light blue parts that actually glow in blacklight.
If you want to draw this design or make up your own Rook design or tweak this design go ahead, like, for example if you wanted him to have the sharp pointy cuffs that I couldn't get to look good at all (but please tag me if you do, I wanna see it, unless you're shit-talking me. Then don't tag me.)(Shit talking means "my god, this asshole who cannot draw at all" and not "It was okay, but I thought it might be better like this/with some tweaks/more coherent colors" one I can take and the former will make me cry).
(If the notes are hard to read, they will be in text at the very bottom)
Obviously, I got a little too obsessed with the mask for my own good. I didn't want him to just have a domino mask, I liked the protectiveness of his Red Robin cowl (if not the look), and I wanted more coverage while also having his hair out because he has really good hair. So it goes around the back of his head in a band, protecting his temples and the back of his head, but nothing else for his hair to show. It is supposed to blend with his hair so we get the illusion of the cowl, but drawn by someone better/more time/shading it'd be fairly obvious up front where his hair and mask are, but less so from the back. And Tim has done the mask under a mask gag before and a self-destructing mask, so I feel like him having approximately 30-billion fail-safes to prevent it from just being pulled off of him is in-character.
And then I decided, that since Tim is Nightwing fan second, he can have a red version of the outfit named "Blackbird" for when he's feeling a little moody or feisty the same as Nightwing has the red Nightwing suit for...reasons ("We wear red in new continuities" or whatever. Why have one outfit when you can have several?). This time the colors were inspired by red cadmium glass under blacklight and the red winged blackbird.
Red Winged Blackbird's symbolically are "a sign of change and transformation. They represent the power of love and compassion, as well as the need to take action in order to make positive changes in your life. The red winged blackbird is a symbol for spiritual growth, inner strength, courage, determination and self-awareness." Which. You know. Fits Tim. And there's red. So. I feel like that's an easy sell. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I wanted to reference his OYL, Post-Crisis Red Robin (regular and data alter), and Robin (Post-Crisis/Rebirth) outfits for the design. I didn't care for much of his post-Flashpoint Red Robin outifts, adding Nomura/Kingdom Hearts zippers levels of belts to him or just being Robin with two "R"s for a symbol and bad hair. You can see the OYL in the edges of the cape and the interior of the mask. Robin, Rebirth in particular, with his elbow pads and knee pads, shoulder armor and the shape of his boots. Red Robin in the bandolier harness/belt thing he's got, but every thing on it is one of those hammer space utility belt pouches the Bats are so well known for, so he can have a bajillion of them as the "tool using" Robin. The "V" center and arm-stripe/finger-stripe combo is, obviously, reminiscent of Nightwing, and his Red Robin data alter, which is also reflected in the larger mask (though the nose is not as beak-like).
(OYL References, the dialogue in the second to last panel of the first reference is misattributed, in case you were confused as to why Tim is dissing his outfit and Dick is talking like Tim)
(Red Robin References)
(Robin References)
And obviously, I just put his "R" symbol on a circle and called it a day. Although I was clearly going off of memory instead of a direct reference, but whatever. Whatever. It fits better in a circle the way I did it. And a circle is a better buckle/clip than the oval, which was a deliberate choice. So. Anyway.
Notes (from top left to bottom right, grouped by what they're describing):
Shoulder Shot: "We're bringing back his iconic 'R' from the 90's for 'Rook. (pointing to the R symbol)." "The cape can be rolled back to reveal some light shoulder armor that doesn't change his silhouette when the cape is down (pointing to his shoulder armor and the rolled back cape that is reminiscent of his over the shoulder "black with yellow" capes)." "Feather pattern that emulates Nightwing's arm/fingerstripes (pointing to the side of his arm)." "His elbow pads have the same shape as his kneepads for the skaterboy vibe. (pointing to the pads over his arms and knees)."
Sketch of harness: "Bandolier harness hides under the cape that clips into his insignia (pointing to the symbol in the center)." "Each space is a pouch (pointing to every area between the pointed ridges (which are hollow tubes with screw caps that can also hold things for maximum hammerspace))."
The detailed shot of the mask: "The face mask is partial emotive with white lenses that have thermal and night-vision (next to the white eyes)." "The foil layer of the mask can peel off unless actively held when the mask is lifted, and cling to his skin with a static charge that makes it almost impossible to peel from his skin (pointing to the teal circuit bit that is lifted from the pointy bit of the mask (the circuits are water/sweat proof, don't worry))." "There are dozens of magnetic locks that have to hit in the right on/off pattern to life all layers of the mask. Each finger in his gloves can have an active magnetic charge, so there are over a thousand combinations (pointing to the foil layer and the inside of the mask)."
The sketches of the mask lowered and raised: "The back of the mask is made of interlocking combs that seal together with metal locks to avoid it coming off unintended (pointing to the back of the raised mask)." "Durable, flexible rubber-like material (pointing to the sides of the mask, back, and the expanding fan like section that allows it to raise while still being one-piece and the top of the mask that would roll against his forehead)." "The mask can be lifted up when the locks are undone (pointing to the raised and lowered mask and the expanding accordion like structure)."
The sketch of a side profile of his head with his bangs and face half there: "Where does the mask end and his hair begin? Like Kujo Jotaro's cap, the world may never know (pointing to the back of his head where the black mask and black hair would blend together)." "The back of the mask combs through his hair and the top layers of his hair cover it (providing an actual answer)." "The nose of the mask has padding that protects his nose from breaks and conceals the shape of his nose and cheeks (next to his nose, which is half covered by the mask)."
This account exists solely for my DC Comics (mainly Batman) fixation, my love of the TV show Danny Phantom, and sometimes the DPxDC fandom. (I will tag each one appropriately. Just mute the tags detective comics comics, Danny phantom, or dpxdc if you don't want to see certain things from me).
I am not the headcanon police. I like to clear up misinformation because it spreads like wildfire and I am aware most fans don't have easy access to the source material. I didn’t grow up with comic book money and streaming services are predatory cost-wise. If you have the information and like to enjoy your headcanons contrary to the source material, even if I say they aggravate me specifically, that's cool. You do you, boo. (Unless a Gothamite is calling pork roll Taylor Ham. You are not allowed this one /mostly joking and seething in exaggerated Central & South Jersey rage)
Sometimes I will be brave enough to post on Ao3: Spectral_phases
Sometimes I will even be brave enough to post on Reddit: u/Spectral_phases
