You Don’t Know How Desperately I Need The Justice League To Pull Up To The Rock Of Eternity Cause They

Made myself depressed thinking about Cass again. Specifically DCeased Cass. Imagining her dropping her Shazam form whenever it comes time to beat up some regular goons. When the others ask her why, she fires back with simply, "keeps me sharp." The real truth is because she can't be hurt as Shazam, and after everything that's happened, after losing Bruce and Barbara and Tim and Stephanie and now even Damian, she really, really needs to feel hurt.

imagine having a devastating piece of gossip (the Waynes were secretly sleeping with their butler) and trying to flip that around as an attack/leverage on their now-adult kid mid-fancy event but said kid is Bruce Wayne and didn’t lose his cool last week when the entire actual Earth was about to blow up so all he does is raise one eyebrow, shrug, down his entire glass of champagne in one graceful chug, and waltz off with a breezy “Guess it’s finally time to get that paternity test, huh?”

something about never being able to wash the blood off your hand

Original/reference under the cut

cover from ch 85 of witch hat atelier

jason died a hero AND lived long enough to see himself become the villain

Bruce FUCK YOU MY DAUGHTER TURNED OUT FINE

Barbara: OUR DAUGHTER HALLUCINATES HER BEST FRIEND WHENEVER SHE'S STRESSED

Cass: *talking to hallucination Steph in the corner while they argue*

Captain Marvel in the Watchtower rec room.

Green Lantern (Hal) & Flash: *giggling at something on GL’s phone*

Audio coming from the phone: *bang*“Ow!”—*clang* “Ouch!”—*thump* “ack!”—*thud*“Ow …I think that left a dent…”

Captain Marvel, clearly annoyed: “you’re really watching that again?”

Green Lantern: “sorry dude! It’s just so funny!”

Captain Marvel: *turns around to walk out the room but bangs his head on the top of the door frame*

Flash: *falls out of his chair laughing*

Okay but some in the JL has definitely gone through the Watchtower security cam footage and made a compilation video of Captain Marvel banging his head on the top of a doorway.

And I’m pretty sure we all know that he must do that a lot.

Idk about you, but it’s very important to me that Cassandra Cain has a scratchy and sore sounding voice paired with an accent that is completely unique.

Like, that girl was homeless and wandering the US for around 9 years! Pairing that with the fact she didn’t use her voice often/at all for the first 17 years of her life then of course her voice will sound weird from the disuse!

The Titanoboa, is a 48ft long snake dating from around 60-58million years ago. It had a rib cage 2ft wide, allowing it to eat whole crocodiles, and surrounding the ribcage were muscles so powerful that it could crush a rhino. Titanoboa was so big it couldn’t even spend long amounts of time on land, because the force of gravity acting on it would cause it to suffocate under its own weight.

I LOVE imagining Mary in different styles of clothing!

Like, tomboy Mary, goth Mary, scene Mary, punk Mary, cottage core Mary, preppy Mary, UGH SHES JUST PERFECT FOR EVERYTHING

So with Cass going to her happy place (that is, Steph) one more time, and all the analysis around it right now, I thought it might also be good to talk about Steph's vision of Cass.

As far as I recall, it only happened once -- in Batgirl (2000) #26 -- and it was a very mixed portrayal. For context, I think it's important to remember that this is still very early in their relationship -- this is only the fourth interaction we've actually seen on-panel, in fact, and the first was barely an interaction at all.

And yet it seems that Steph has already embraced Cass in a way that Cass has not yet embraced Steph. In their third interaction, Cass has accidentally almost killed Shadow Thief, and Steph helps her resuscitate him and then immediately agrees not to tell Oracle about what happened. No reservation whatsoever -- a crying, guilty, terrified Cass doesn't even manage to find the words to ask exactly what she wants before Steph understands and gives it to her.

And here, in their fourth interaction, Cass doesn't even know it's occurring. She's recovering from her fight to the death with Shiva, and is asleep for the entirely of the issue. But Steph is extremely concerned about her (moreso than Babs, but to be fair to Babs, she has a lot more experience with how Cass is and is probably just relieved that she's actually resting), despite the fact that they really barely know each other at this point.

Steph goes out to fight Shiva's disciple in Cass's stead, because Cass is still indisposed. She's gung-ho at the start, but upon seeing her opponent, gets cold feet and starts to lose faith in herself. Here's where the Cass-vision starts.

Look at Imaginary Cass hyping her up. She's even smiling under the mask, which isn't something Steph has ever seen her do on-panel. Note how articulate Cass is. At this point in her development, Cass didn't communicate this way. She didn't use long sentences, smoothly strung together, with anyone, and she didn't use them with Steph in particular. In fact, here's the extent of what Cass has said to Steph directly on-panel so far, in their entire relationship: Become faster. Read it. (multiple times) No. (multiple times) When? Quiet. (multiple times) Go home. Then we wait. You take the train. I take the car. Kinsey is here. Get down. The money. Trade? Why? Let's go. Help me. And of course, the above interaction about Shadow Thief. Obviously, not only does Actual Cass have very little to say to Steph, she certainly doesn't have anything encouraging to say! She's outright dismissive of her, at best. And that's just how Cass is as this point in her development -- her speech abilities are still limited, her social development is stunted, and she's just not a cuddly person in general. Combat, and getting the job done, are of utmost importance to her. She's not intentionally cruel, she's just very blunt and calls it like she sees it, and she's like that with pretty much everyone. So we have Imaginary Cass, speaking and behaving in a very un-Cass-like manner... and Steph actually having a conversation with this imaginary Cass out loud. It's a little weird, but it's very in-character for Steph, who is extremely talkative and thrives on interaction. Babbling seems to be an anxiety response for her. She already has a tendency to narrate her own experiences via her diary, so I think it's not a stretch to say that she might try to talk through her own anxiety with herself by imagining that self-conversation being with Cass instead. This differs from Cass's hallucinations in that Steph isn't dead, dying, or drugged. She's wide awake, and she seems to know that Cass is imaginary, because she even recognizes the fact that Cass doesn't normally speak this way to her. Imaginary Cass is just a vehicle for expressing what she's trying to tell herself -- much like Steph will later be a vehicle for Cass to express her feelings to herself in Batgirl (2024) #5. But here we are later, when Steph begins to feel like she's failing:

Imaginary Cass turns disparaging, taunting her, saying all the things that Steph clearly feels about herself: she's not good enough, they were wrong to put their faith in her, she's failed, she's going to die, and worse -- other people are going to die because of her failure, too. (It's worth noting that, in retrospect, this ends up sounding like an entirely unintentional foreshadowing of War Games.) This makes Steph mad (seriously, look how angry her silly mask blob eyes are) and motivates her to ultimately win the battle. Steph gets a lot of motivation from spite, and in this case it's probably helpful that the disparagement is seeming to come from "someone else" (namely imaginary Cass) instead of from herself. It's easier to spite other people than to spite yourself. It's easier to be motivated to prove them wrong. Again, Cass is a vehicle for Steph's internal monologue -- it becomes a dialogue instead, in a way that is helpful to her in the end.

Then there's one more vision:

Look at Steph's face. Just for an instant, she's so happy. She clearly admires Cass, and has expressed it on multiple occasions ever since they met. She's in awe. And she desperately needs someone to believe in her, and be proud of her. If Batgirl, the girl who beat Lady Shiva, could be proud of her, then wouldn't that mean the world?

But it's not to be.

At least not yet.