Curate, connect, and discover
Listened to a friend talk about Flash comics today; why do the flashfam and their Rogues literally operate like the fucking mafia. Why do their Rogues have established rules and consequences and live in constant fear of the day their heroes snap. Why is this the most efficient and moral Rogues Gallery I've seen yet. I'm so intrigued what is wrong with all of them why are they like that. Why are people getting PAID??
Always yes with this
There are degrees of shipping people with the Batfam. Like a spectrum even for established relationships.
And each non-bat can be anywhere from full civilian to other JL to someone turned this character into a bat by proxy.
My favorite is bat by proxy because it's a hilarious thing to me.
I mean, the ships that come to mind where the later works really well are Birdflash and TimKon. Which makes it better. Because Wally is a Flash and Kon is a Super. Two of the other rather large clans of themed leaguers with two of the other more recognizable family heads. I mean, throw in JayRoy and it's three of the others and adds in the Bruce v Oliver fun.
And the Bat by proxy thing.
I don't mean they just side with the Bats over the rest of the League. I mean they start becoming Bats by virtue of always being around them.
Like Wally just accidentally learning to be better at hearing people sneaking up on him because if he's gonna go to brunch with Dick at the Manor he has to be able to dodge these near silent people. Especially Damian, who will stab him if he fails a vibe check, and Tim, who will steal and solve your cases or hack your phones ringtone to be stuck at the loudest setting and playing Barbie world for every notification and there is no in between our way to tell which kind of day it is. So none of the League can sneak up on Wally. And he's smiling and capable like Nightwing but has also picked up that steal slightly crazy smile and no other flash is quite as scary as Wally.
Or Kon, after being constantly threatened with kryptonite by Steph, Jason, and Duke at various points just gives up and learns how to fight through the weakness and goes through enough bat training to be able to survive when he and then he's one of the best trained Supers in hand to hand and no one understand how. And because he's always around Tim, he gets really good and reading people. Because his life can and will depend on being about to tell if Tim is approaching someone at a gala for WE business or for RR business. Even the other supers are confused at how quick his is to pick up in the slightest shift in body language.
And Roy. It was easiest for Roy, going from Arrow to Bat. But that doesn't mean he didn't have to just get used to casually collecting blackmail as some kind of twisted way of showing love. The first time Tim gave him and Jason a photo of them on a date where neither of them knew Tim was watching or talking pictures Roy is shook. By the tenth he's finding it endearing and hoping that Tim manages to get around Jason's traps to get done candids of Lian. No other arrow is quite as stealthy, despite the red of his costume.
And the JL, even the 'families' they came from, know that they have the ability to appear normal. To blend with the rest of the League, but the longer they're with their Bats the more cryptid they become. Until Flash finds himself unsettled by Wally in the same way as the other Bats. And Big Boy Blue refuses to train with Kon for a different reason than before, no longer because of the clone thing but for the same reason he avoids training with any of the Bats. And Green Arrow finds himself looking over his shoulder for Bruce and Roy on the Watchtower.
And their secrets are more and civi identities locked down. No names in my the field and they never slip these days. Like any good Bat.
New Leaguers meet these converts and can't tell the difference between the Bats Batman chose and the ones the other Bats brought into the fam.
And the rest of the League starts to wonder: is being a Bat contagious?
Have some de-aged Batman.
You can’t convince me that Batman wasn’t a angsty teen full of spite and anger.
———
Superman: “so, in the future you become a vigilante named Batman!”
Bruce, sitting cross legged in the corner of the room refusing to go near any of the JL: “I fucking hate bats, I swear those little flying rat-like shits want to kill me”
Flash, a look of pure shock on his face: “Batman was scared of bats?!?!?”
Green Lantern, wheezing with surprised laughter: “BATMAN WAS SCARED OF BATS!!!”
———
Bruce, staring at Green Arrow: “Ollie”
Green Arrow: “Bruce”
Bruce, looking Green arrow up and down with a judgmental look on his face: “you’ve aged-”
Green Arrow trying to finish his sentence: “well?”
Bruce, completely deadpan: “no”
Green Arrow: “…”
Bruce: “…”
Green Arrow turning around and speed walking away: “Okay! Bye!”
———
Bruce, pulling out a cigarette from nowhere and then lighting it with some random lighter.
Superman, nervously walking up to Bruce because he doesn’t know how to act around him: “hey Bruce? You shouldn’t be smoking in the watchtower… or like, anywhere”
Bruce just staring at him now: “…”
Superman, practically sweating now: “y’know, cause you’re… well… 16?”
Bruce, with a look of complete seriousness: “I’ll stop smoking when I inevitably smash a hole through one of the windows and let myself —and hopefully everyone else— get sucked into space to freeze and die”
Superman, backing away while trying to figure out if he was joking or not: “okay I’m just going to go now…”
———
Bruce: “so you can make anything with that ring?”
Green Lantern: “yep! Anything”
Bruce: “can you make a crowbar?”
Green Lantern, thinking he’s bonding with Bruce and conjures up a crowbar: “yeah”
Bruce, grabs the crowbar without warning and throws it at Green Arrow’s meeting chair, effectively making a huge dent in it.
Bruce: “cool” *walks away*
Green Lantern: *horrified and confused*
Some random kid in a red hoodie (Billy) absolutely bolting past Flash: AAAAAA-
A bunch of JL members running after him: *confused yelling and questions being shouted at the kid*
Flash: *long sip from his coffee*
Flash: I feel like I should be doing something… I just can’t put my finger on what…
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.