DC canon is a collaborative project at best (let's not get now into what it is at worst), and while we all rage against ~fanon takes, I think there's a significant different between picking up trends and regurgitating repetitive slop that often flattens the characters and events involved, or even reproduces and reinforces regressive thinking, versus reading other writers' works and figuring out how to build upon them.
There's so much you can do in terms of blending canons together, expanding on barely touched-upon concepts, grounding the stories in specific historical and contemporary contexts, examining authorial biases and prejudices to ponder what the story could look like without them, and so on. It's an extremely fun exercise and it can lead to such a boom of creativity, as opposed to the over-simplification of concepts fandom often veers towards.
At this point there are... what I think of as "pockets" of canon I would purposefully disregard, replace, remake, etc. using those methods. I have quite a few of these that I would use as the ground in which to grow other stories. It makes me want to go back through my tags to properly archive them; easter bunny David Cain has slightly taken off! And I have so, so much more to say regarding how I'd tweak Damian's origins + how it shaped the al Ghuls, among others.
The "pocket" I want to get into today involves a lot of the thoughts I've had lately regarding Bruce's childhood, the state of his extended family after Martha and Thomas's deaths, and Alfred or Leslie's roles in it. Some semi-organised ramblings under the cut.
I've talked so often about what I think of Alfred & Bruce as a straightforward parent-child relationship (read: I don't see it like that at all, and I don't care for the progression towards that in post-crisis and especially post-Nolan canon), that I couldn't link solely one post about it. Looking at my #alfred pennyworth tag would be quicker. A lot of it can be summed up by "Alfred doesn't have the authority and power in that relationship you guys think he has."
But at this point there's no unmaking this omelet; there's no returning Alfred to his pre-crisis self, where he only met Bruce as an adult. And I do like the uncomfortable blend between employee and caretaker that he inhabits, and how utterly fucked up it is. So Alfred working for the Wayne marriage and knowing Bruce as a young child is something I want to keep, while affording him more personhood and agency that canon left him with when it sackled him to these roles.
On the other hand, I refuse to renounce to the post-crisis concept of Dr Leslie Thompkins, Thomas's friend and coworker (though I like to imagine them clashing at first!), temporarily fostering Bruce, becoming a surrogate mother figure to him. And I think conveniently removing Bruce's extended family (especially if you want them to exist or be at all relevant later on in canon) is lazy and a waste of potential. Bringing both of them into the picture makes everything a lot more interesting.
Coming back to Alfred, for now. I would keep the brush strokes of his post-crisis backstory: Jarvis Pennyworth, his father, was the Wayne's butler. He married a stage actress (who I will name Phryne, for Phryne Fisher, because I can) who left him and returned to the stage in England, with Alfred following after her, to work as an actor as well (this could easily be placed after a stint in the military/intelligence services during WWII, because I'm using post-crisis math and working back from the mid-80s). In the comics, Jarvis dies before Martha and Thomas do, and this prompts Alfred to return to them, fulfilling his previously scorned filial duty. In the comics, Alfred stays, for good.
I would have Alfred leave. Return to England. He would have known Bruce as a child, and took care of him for a short-to-medium-long period, but his return was meant as something temporary, to help the Waynes until they found someone else who could fulfill it. He always intended to return to his life (which might or might not include some dalliance with a French woman that resulted in Julia Remarque; keeping that as a WWII spy affair is fun too; it'd make her at least a bit older than Bruce, but I can totally work with that when I bring her around for pre-crisis inspired Julia/Vicki Vale shenanigans). In this scenario, he got that. For a very, very short time, before the Waynes die. The guilt gets at him, and he returns.
At this point, I like to picture an all-out, only outwardly polite, custody battle for Bruce, between Martha's and Thomas's respective families. Leslie, as a close friend of the family and a pilar of the community, could be a temporary caretaker while the case gets sorted.
I have come to embrace the idea that Martha was an Arkham, not a Kane. Among other reasons, because I like it better if Kate Kane (a character I also "rebuild" in my head) isn't related to Bruce. And because I know there's a lot to untap in the Arkham family, even with my limited knowledge, and I think tying them more closely to Bruce is infinitely more interesting.
By working back from the mid-80s again and doing some very vague math (Jason being born in the mid 70s, Dick in the late 60s, Bruce as >15 years older than Dick, and Martha at least in her late 20s when she had Bruce), Martha and Thomas would be born circa the 20s. Amadeus Arkham, founder of Arkham Asylum, was born precisely in 1890. I personally like it better if Martha is his niece, or even grand-niece (granddaughter to a much older brother) and not another daughter (which... oof, I just read that backstory).
I think the Waynes get placed as Kennedy-lite in Gotham more often, but I prefer that position to go to the Arkhams, with a harsh fall from grace amidst accusations of horrible medical abuse. This is something that would hit Martha directly, specifically via conversion therapy. After reading Batman: Family (2002) I decided to see her as a closeted bisexual; she downplayed her "wild" youth as an adult, but before Thomas, her one serious, long-lasting relationship (which she covered with a series of flings and beards) was equally closeted Celia Kazantkakis, and it imploded spectacularly, as per that comic.
Sidenote, Martha's history of abuse makes this moment, where Thomas slaps Bruce and she scolds him but makes excuses for him with their child, all the more poignant. That scene has cemented how I see the Waynes, and I think this moment should haunt Bruce into adulthood, even if he pretends otherwise.
This would all be kept very quiet (though I imagine it making some very scandalous headlines when Bruce is an adult), but the truth of the matter is that Martha is completely no-contact with the Arkhams, while she and Martha keep a close relationship with the remaining Waynes. This being Vanderveer Wayne Sr., Thomas's (younger, at least here) brother, who I'm shamelessly grabbing from Powerless alongside his son, Van Jr. (who did make one appearance pre-crisis).
In this scenario Bruce would end with Vanderveer Sr., who I picture as the person in charge of Wayne Enterprises. Thomas had shares but worked full time as a doctor; Martha was in charge of the Foundation and focused on philanthropic efforts. In my head she was pre-law but never passed the bar, BTW. Maybe she had a bachelor in Sociology, to reference Batman: The Ultimate Evil, one of the few stories that does anything with Martha's character.
I imagine Vanderveer as... not terrible, maybe, but stern. Cold, strict, "a man's man", hardly someone who shows a lot of affection; but also someone willing and able to take care of Bruce, who would be a kid that, at this time, would make it extremely difficult to take care of him. I also was leaning towards making him a widower with a very young son (Van Jr. would be 2-3yo when Bruce arrives, at maybe... 8? 10? 12? YMMV, depending on how old I'll want to make him when he's orphaned), but I've decided, solely to add even more angst, to give the younger Mrs. Wayne (say... Irene) a terminal illness, making her live only a couple years more. Leslie was her doctor.
In my head, Vanderveer Sr lived long enough to meet Dick (who I like to introduce at 12yo, because otherwise the math re: Tim's presence that day in the circus is ridiculous), though by then he was extremely sick and needed around the clock care, provided (monetarily) by Bruce, and he never got to meet Jason. Van Jr., who is extremely flamboyant and annoying and the exact kind of gay man people both inside and outside the community love to look down on, has his main residence outside of Gotham, maybe in San Francisco (definitely in the West Coast), pops in and out of Bruce's life every once in a while. He didn't have a good relationship with his father, and he and Bruce aren't close at all. I think he survived the AIDs crisis in the 80s, but that it hit him hard, emotionally, and that it shaped his work afterwards (but, and this is key, he never stopped being THAT kind of in-your-face gay man).
Back to Bruce's time with the Vanderveers: it's in this environment that Alfred offers his services to the remaining Waynes. They would not live in the manor, but in the city (Alfred would also offer his services keeping the manor in shape for Master Bruce). Alfred, and Leslie to a lesser extent, as the family doctor and friend, help raise and support Bruce in this environment.
Until he seeks emancipation, which I 100% see Bruce doing (and Vanderveer seeing it as Bruce Becoming A Man and looking at it positively). He succeeds at ~16, finishing school early as well. Alfred and Leslie become, or try to become, far more involved there, begging him to not go on his own quite yet. It works for those remaining couple of years until Bruce is 18, with him often leaving with Leslie on her trips (they so desperately want him to go to med school), and Alfred staying behind taking care of both Wayne houses.
And then Bruce leaves for his abroad training, and returns even more changed.
After watching the episode which Superman can reverse time so everyone gets a no consequence day, I think a lot if Jackie once got really fed up with Van and thought about killing Van in one of those no consequence day.
I thought a lot about the dynamic of Michael and Pam from the Office where they went out and started their own paper company. Michael was useless until Pam had a breakdown, and all of a sudden Michael started to take responsibility and function like a normal human being.
Sadly they are both trapped in the convention of sitcom and no character is allowed drastic growth.
It’s not really canon in the show but I’d like to imagine Van had some unhealthy obsession with Jackie that he’s not aware of. But he’ll get very competent in some really disgusting way for Jackie’s sake.
The show didn’t offer that much, but the cufflinks scene elevated this ship to one of my all time favorites.
Also look at this dumbass shoving jerky into Emily’s handbag. Look at this dumbassssss!!!!!!!
Okay, I saw a random tweet recommending the show "Powerless" last week so since I am bored I decided to give it a try.
That's a show released in 2017 that was cancelled after one season due to a lack of audience. It's a sitcom in the DC universe about regular people living there, more exactly about a team working at Wayne Entreprises R&D.
And the show is nice enough, that's a sitcom it does the job, I don't ask for more.
But the boss of that office, Van-something Wayne Junior (who happens to be Bruce's cousin or something) desperately wants to get muted from his perfectly normal city called "Charme City" to the freaking Gotham office.
His city sounds nice. Their main villain is a man with a pumpkin that throws fireballs, there are villains who make winter really cold, it sounds perfectly good for a city in the DC universe. Why the fuck do you want to go to Gotham, sir. That place is not just weird, it is living in another universe of weirdness. Why would you want that-
And like the Gotham office is certainly more important and prestigious but... it's in Gotham.
Alan Wray Tudyk's Birthday: Vanderveer "Van" Wayne (Powerless)
Today is Alan Wray's 49th birthday (16 March) and is an American actor and voice actor known for his various roles on film, television, theatre, and video games. He appeared as Vanderveer "Van" Wayne in the short-lived television series Powerless and current stars as Eric Morden as Mr. Nobody on Doom Patrol. He also did voices for the following animated series: Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Young Justice, and Harley Quinn and the following videogames: Injustice: Gods Among Us and Injustice 2.
Vanderveer "Van" Wayne is the cousin of Bruce Wayne and the son of Vanderveer Wayne Sr., he is in charge of Wayne Security, a subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises in Charm City. A self-proclaimed rich, over-educated, globetrotting wastrel, Van is a power-mad disastrous dictator of a boss, hating his job and seeking to move to Gotham City from Charm City for a better position at the company. He harbors a secret desire to become a Robin for Batman despite the death rate of being one.
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