TLDR about Batman
Sep. 2nd, 2016 11:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akinoame Akino Ame 10:27 pm
Hey
Can I talk to you for about 2 hours about Batman?
Kaitou Mishou 10:28 pm
totally
Akino Ame 10:28 pm
Because I keep seeing this on tumblr http://albawrites.tumblr.com/post/97056256946/absentlyabbie-wolvensnothere
And while it's beautiful, it misses so much
Because that's only the first chapter of the DCAU
If we assume that the entire DCAU is the story of Batman--a story supported by Epilogue--then dear lord did they cherry pick
Akino Ame 10:30 pm
It's said by Batmite in The Brave and the Bold that Batman is open to interpretation, from the campy Adam West to the brooding Christian Bale to the fatherly Bruce Greenwood to the brotherly George Clooney
No interpretation can ever be the true one because they are all him
They are him in every era
And while Kevin Conroy's may well be the best, capturing multiple facets of his personality from past and future, it is not the total
And people forget that BTAS is only the story of his beginning
When Bruce first became Batman, it was out of a broken heart
His fiancee had left him, so yeah. He was in a better place to be emotionally bonded to his rogues' gallery
In a way, they became his family
Akino Ame 10:32 pm
There is a definite Freudian interpretation of DCAU Batman, highlighted by the fact that Conroy voices not just Bruce, but Joe Chill and Thomas too
In Bruce's mind, he plays both his father and his father's killer
So there is an inherently fucked up relationship with his father
He identifies with him, but he also identifies with the killer
He's raised by Alfred, who takes on the role of father figure in his life and does the best he can
But as he forms a friendship with Jim Gordon, he acknowledges that Gordon is the same age as his father
So there's a paternal element in that relationship
That Gordon is completely unaware of because he doesn't know how old Batman really is
Akino Ame 10:34 pm
This also adds great meaning to why Bruce never lets him pay for coffee during their New Year's tradition
Deep down, it feels like he's buying it for his dad
But he also takes in Dick Grayson, and at the time BTAS was airing, Dick had been introduced as Robin in the movies
But an older Robin, 20's to Bruce's 30s
So way too old to be his son, as we see in most interpretations and especially with TT and YJ
But as Clooney Batman says in Batman and Robin, at the right age to be his brother
Akino Ame 10:36 pm
Which then makes sense why DCAU Bruce has a relationship with Barbara for some time (including in The Killing Joke, which is definitely a DCAU coda in movie form)
This isn't sleeping with his son's ex. This is sleeping with his brother's ex--still a problem, but not as morally reprehensible
And Dick's rebellion isn't a son leaving his father's house, but a younger brother who's sick and tired of Big Bro pretending to be Dad
But let's back it up
When Dick is introduced to us as Robin, it's when he's in college. We can presume that Bruce probably put him through boarding school or whatever, and that's why he hasn't been there
Kaitou Mishou (Shaun Garin) is available 10:38 pm
Akino Ame 10:38 pm
Dick is a bit younger but very impatient. Brilliant but reckless
He's emotional to Bruce's logical
In Robin's Reckoning, he goes on a rampage when Bruce keeps Tony Zucco's location from him
Then, when he realizes that he nearly killed him, he admits that Bruce was right to keep secrets about his parents' murderer
Because he would have done something he could never make right
Though Bruce insisted it was only because he couldn't bear the thought of Zucco taking his life after taking so much from him
Kaitou Mishou 10:42 pm
emotional distance and all
Akino Ame 10:42 pm
Yep
Bruce tries to help his rogues' gallery, but it doesn't work out so well
Akino Ame 10:43 pm
And this kind of culminates in SubZero
Where Freeze nearly goes completely over the line by trying to sacrifice Barbara's life in order to save Nora
They manage to save her, and Barbara finds another way to save Nora, but Freeze can never be with her
And she ends up moving on with her life while he can't
Because he never could
Akino Ame 10:46 pm
Bruce even tries to rehabilitate Harvey Dent through plastic surgery, to rebuild his face and thus his psyche to help make the therapy stick
But it presumably fails, making matters worse
He can never help these people
So now Dick graduates college and Bruce really can't handle the emotional level very well
It's revealed that he knew Barbara's identity but kept it a secret from Dick to protect him, and Dick snaps because nobody seems to trust him
Worse, after he dumps Barbara, she hooks up with Bruce
Which, mind you, according to Bruce's mind isn't so much a matter of dating someone younger, but hooking up with the daughter of the guy old enough to be his father
So to him, they're peers
Akino Ame 10:48 pm
Bruce has one chance for his family to rehabilitate, and that's Tim Drake
Who forces him into a father role he's really not ready for and really not comfortable with
But Tim is used to having an emotionally distant father, what with his having abandoned him, so he doesn't mind as much
And the strict rules are good for him
But Bruce doesn't smile, not for as long as Tim knows him
Because the disintegration of his family has gotten to him
Furthermore, Batman's family--his rogues--are also disintegrating
Harley's getting out of that abusive relationship with Joker, but she's hooked up with Ivy, and they're a holy terror
Harvey's mind fractures into yet another piece, creating the ultra-vigilante The Judge, who even seeks to punish him for his crimes
Akino Ame 10:50 pm
Talia never leaves her father's shadow, not even for love
Selina's falling further into crime, and even at one point, Dick takes a page from Bruce's book and starts dating his foster brother's ex
And then this big blue boy scout comes into his life
Superman is everything Bruce can't be
He's sunny, he's optimistic, and he knows how to have a family
He can maintain an emotional distance from his rogues gallery
But Bruce knows very well that Clark doesn't exactly have it easy either
His relationship with Lois is rocky, and Bruce's isn't much better
But Clark never lets it get him down
And he always tries to help Bruce whenever he needs it
Akino Ame 10:52 pm
Even takes over as Batman to help out Tim when Bruce is kidnapped by Brainiac
Supes points out that Bats is the one who's lucky to have a good team of people to rely on
But Batman cannot let himself get close
And around that time, Justice League happens
J'onn calls together a group of heroes to form a single team to combat the threats they can't handle alone
And Bruce tries to maintain an emotional distance from them too
But this is around the time he starts having really unhealthy psychological behavior
Akino Ame 10:54 pm
He pushes himself farther, and J'onn notes that it's likely because he's getting a complex about being the only normal guy on Mt. Olympus
He manages to keep up, but it's always at greater physical cost
Every time Supes takes extra hits to protect the team, Bats is pulling an allnighter so he can keep on top of the detective work
He calls himself a part-timer to maintain the emotional distance, but he's putting in all of the hours of a full-timer
And footing the bill for their expenses
When Superman appears to die in Hereafter, he completely fails to deal
Refusing Diana's offer to join the League full time
And insisting on investigating every angle, refusing to admit that his friend may have died
Akino Ame 10:56 pm
Until he finally faces the memorial alone and starts to lower his guard
And when Superman shows up alive, Diana insists that he was the one who took it the worst
While he says that he never once let himself believe that Superman had died
That he COULD be killed
Because the League has become his family at that point, and he cannot lose another family member. And not the most invulnerable of them all. It would kill him
In Wildcards, we have Ace
Joker manipulates her, and Bruce ends up manipulating Harley to find him
Yes, because the situation was desperate, but it's something early BTAS Batman would never do
He sows seeds of distrust between them, rather than trying to reason with her
Akino Ame 10:58 pm
And then he does the same to Ace, revealing that Joker never trusted her at all
But Ace comes to trust him, because he still has enough humanity inside him to try to reason with her without any kind of protection whatsoever, even though he's puking sick from the hallucinations
But then Starcrossed happens
And Bruce learns that one of his superhero family, Shayera, betrayed him
And all of them
We never learn what vote he took, although I do presume that he did vote to bring her back under stricter monitoring (if only because I don't think J'onn was quite so forgiving)
But the fiasco costs him dearly
He has to reveal his identity to his teammates
Akino Ame 11:00 pm
He has the Thanagarians break into his home and the Batcave
And he tries to sacrifice his life to save the world--a sacrifice that Superman absolutely refuses to let him make
They are left with the League broken and homeless
Desperately needing to rebuild
And in that, Batman becomes more distant
We can assume that this is the point where Return of the Joker takes place, if only because the timing makes perfect sense
Joker would be more pissed off after Ace's hallucinations wore off
And with the League fractured, it's the perfect opportunity to strike
Tim's been trusted with way too much
Akino Ame 11:02 pm
So kidnap him and brainwash him
Have Batman and Batgirl have to search for him, alone because the League can no longer afford to help
They don't have the resources they once did
It would be a betrayal of Bruce's super family
As the Bat family and the Rogue family are forever destroyed
Kaitou Mishou 11:03 pm
It also explains why Joker isn't in JLU
Akino Ame 11:03 pm
Exactly
Superman and all of the others fail to help
Not because Bruce can't bring himself to ask for help--this is Tim, Supes loves him, he would help
But because Superman needs to go everywhere, and J'onn has to go everywhere, and so do everyone else
They're spread too thin
And just as the League realizes they need to recruit so that they can protect one another--because Shayera's betrayal has left them scared and vulnerable--Bruce's only son kills his nemesis
And nothing will ever be the same again
Bruce withdraws almost completely
He encourages Green Arrow to join and become the voice of reason to keep the League sane
He recruits Question to run the investigations
It's Cadmus that gets him back in the game, and Waller becomes his equal the way Joker was
But she's never a nemesis, because Batman can see that she's just like him
She's logical and cautious
Distrusting
And for good reason
Akino Ame 11:07 pm
Because he's seen that he can't get enough done the way he is, but he can't let himself become Lord Batman and dishonor his family, his father's, legacy
But she gets him to doubt Superman
Because Superman will be judge, jury, and executioner on Doomsday
Even though, deep down, even Waller knows that Doomsday is too dangerous to leave around and this is the right call
But it scares Bruce
Bruce and Waller are two sides of the same coin in a way no one else ever was to him
They scare each other
And scare each other enough to act against their own groups
Bruce can't maintain a relationship with Diana because he's got too many issues, although he frames it as her being unable to handle him, thereby insulting her honor
Akino Ame 11:09 pm
His relationship with Barbara falls apart
And slowly, everyone starts to leave him
He stops coming to the Watchtower altogether
Alfred dies
Gordon dies and Barbara joins the police
And his own body starts to fail him
So he builds better technology
His first new suit is too powerful, putting a dangerous strain on his heart
His second, the black-and-red one, is perfect, although he still doesn't trust himself completely and puts in a failsafe to knock it out if he ever needs to
And then he has a heart attack while trying to rescue someone
And he has to pull a gun on someone
Akino Ame 11:11 pm
Never shoots, but the fact that his body has betrayed him now, betrayed him to the point where he had to consider betraying his convictions--that gets him to quit
He loses his family's company to Powers
He lives alone, except for his dog
And then Waller overwrites Warren McGinnis's DNA, giving Bruce a biological son
Terry breaks open the wall Bruce has erected over the course of 50 years
He's impatient, like Dick
But like Tim, he doesn't take Bruce's broodiness so seriously
Because he too had a rough relationship with his dad
Akino Ame 11:13 pm
But he loved him dearly, and he sympathizes with Bruce because he knows the same pain--worse, because he had the chance to build a relationship with his father before losing him
And finally, the man whose entire life revolved around his failure to find a family has one, with the son he won't ever reveal is his
Terry doesn't need the praise as badly as Dick and Tim did
But when Bruce does give it to him, he swells with pride
He stands in Bruce's defense, even to his former families
Akino Ame 11:15 pm
And when Bruce sees him starting to make the same mistakes--Melanie like Selina, Freeze again, Superman again--he lets him try and then advises him when things don't work out
Because he knows by now that telling him no outright won't help, but letting him figure things out on his own isn't good if he doesn't have actual advice
He tries to protect him from the Joker because he's so scared of losing another son
But Terry proves to be completely unafraid of him, which throws the Joker for a loop
He helps build Terry into a good man, the man he always had the potential to be, and that's long before Terry learns that he is Bruce's son
And when Terry learns, his first instinct is to yell at him and scream
Akino Ame 11:18 pm
But he goes to Waller, he learns the truth, and he goes back to help take care of his father
And carry out his legacy with pride
This is the story of Batman
You try too hard to empathize with the villains, you burn yourself out
You try to build a family, but you don't really know what one looks like, and every single one you try to build--heroic or villainous--breaks
You find yourself alone and think this is what you are destined to become
Because that's the lesson your rogues have taught you, your peers, and your betters
But then someone comes along and helps you find what you always needed
Akino Ame 11:20 pm
And that person doesn't necessarily have to be blood
The DCAU is a story about family
Good, evil, super, and normal
And everything that goes with it
Hey
Can I talk to you for about 2 hours about Batman?
Kaitou Mishou 10:28 pm
totally
Akino Ame 10:28 pm
Because I keep seeing this on tumblr http://albawrites.tumblr.com/post/97056256946/absentlyabbie-wolvensnothere
And while it's beautiful, it misses so much
Because that's only the first chapter of the DCAU
If we assume that the entire DCAU is the story of Batman--a story supported by Epilogue--then dear lord did they cherry pick
Akino Ame 10:30 pm
It's said by Batmite in The Brave and the Bold that Batman is open to interpretation, from the campy Adam West to the brooding Christian Bale to the fatherly Bruce Greenwood to the brotherly George Clooney
No interpretation can ever be the true one because they are all him
They are him in every era
And while Kevin Conroy's may well be the best, capturing multiple facets of his personality from past and future, it is not the total
And people forget that BTAS is only the story of his beginning
When Bruce first became Batman, it was out of a broken heart
His fiancee had left him, so yeah. He was in a better place to be emotionally bonded to his rogues' gallery
In a way, they became his family
Akino Ame 10:32 pm
There is a definite Freudian interpretation of DCAU Batman, highlighted by the fact that Conroy voices not just Bruce, but Joe Chill and Thomas too
In Bruce's mind, he plays both his father and his father's killer
So there is an inherently fucked up relationship with his father
He identifies with him, but he also identifies with the killer
He's raised by Alfred, who takes on the role of father figure in his life and does the best he can
But as he forms a friendship with Jim Gordon, he acknowledges that Gordon is the same age as his father
So there's a paternal element in that relationship
That Gordon is completely unaware of because he doesn't know how old Batman really is
Akino Ame 10:34 pm
This also adds great meaning to why Bruce never lets him pay for coffee during their New Year's tradition
Deep down, it feels like he's buying it for his dad
But he also takes in Dick Grayson, and at the time BTAS was airing, Dick had been introduced as Robin in the movies
But an older Robin, 20's to Bruce's 30s
So way too old to be his son, as we see in most interpretations and especially with TT and YJ
But as Clooney Batman says in Batman and Robin, at the right age to be his brother
Akino Ame 10:36 pm
Which then makes sense why DCAU Bruce has a relationship with Barbara for some time (including in The Killing Joke, which is definitely a DCAU coda in movie form)
This isn't sleeping with his son's ex. This is sleeping with his brother's ex--still a problem, but not as morally reprehensible
And Dick's rebellion isn't a son leaving his father's house, but a younger brother who's sick and tired of Big Bro pretending to be Dad
But let's back it up
When Dick is introduced to us as Robin, it's when he's in college. We can presume that Bruce probably put him through boarding school or whatever, and that's why he hasn't been there
Kaitou Mishou (Shaun Garin) is available 10:38 pm
Akino Ame 10:38 pm
Dick is a bit younger but very impatient. Brilliant but reckless
He's emotional to Bruce's logical
In Robin's Reckoning, he goes on a rampage when Bruce keeps Tony Zucco's location from him
Then, when he realizes that he nearly killed him, he admits that Bruce was right to keep secrets about his parents' murderer
Because he would have done something he could never make right
Though Bruce insisted it was only because he couldn't bear the thought of Zucco taking his life after taking so much from him
Kaitou Mishou 10:42 pm
emotional distance and all
Akino Ame 10:42 pm
Yep
Bruce tries to help his rogues' gallery, but it doesn't work out so well
Akino Ame 10:43 pm
And this kind of culminates in SubZero
Where Freeze nearly goes completely over the line by trying to sacrifice Barbara's life in order to save Nora
They manage to save her, and Barbara finds another way to save Nora, but Freeze can never be with her
And she ends up moving on with her life while he can't
Because he never could
Akino Ame 10:46 pm
Bruce even tries to rehabilitate Harvey Dent through plastic surgery, to rebuild his face and thus his psyche to help make the therapy stick
But it presumably fails, making matters worse
He can never help these people
So now Dick graduates college and Bruce really can't handle the emotional level very well
It's revealed that he knew Barbara's identity but kept it a secret from Dick to protect him, and Dick snaps because nobody seems to trust him
Worse, after he dumps Barbara, she hooks up with Bruce
Which, mind you, according to Bruce's mind isn't so much a matter of dating someone younger, but hooking up with the daughter of the guy old enough to be his father
So to him, they're peers
Akino Ame 10:48 pm
Bruce has one chance for his family to rehabilitate, and that's Tim Drake
Who forces him into a father role he's really not ready for and really not comfortable with
But Tim is used to having an emotionally distant father, what with his having abandoned him, so he doesn't mind as much
And the strict rules are good for him
But Bruce doesn't smile, not for as long as Tim knows him
Because the disintegration of his family has gotten to him
Furthermore, Batman's family--his rogues--are also disintegrating
Harley's getting out of that abusive relationship with Joker, but she's hooked up with Ivy, and they're a holy terror
Harvey's mind fractures into yet another piece, creating the ultra-vigilante The Judge, who even seeks to punish him for his crimes
Akino Ame 10:50 pm
Talia never leaves her father's shadow, not even for love
Selina's falling further into crime, and even at one point, Dick takes a page from Bruce's book and starts dating his foster brother's ex
And then this big blue boy scout comes into his life
Superman is everything Bruce can't be
He's sunny, he's optimistic, and he knows how to have a family
He can maintain an emotional distance from his rogues gallery
But Bruce knows very well that Clark doesn't exactly have it easy either
His relationship with Lois is rocky, and Bruce's isn't much better
But Clark never lets it get him down
And he always tries to help Bruce whenever he needs it
Akino Ame 10:52 pm
Even takes over as Batman to help out Tim when Bruce is kidnapped by Brainiac
Supes points out that Bats is the one who's lucky to have a good team of people to rely on
But Batman cannot let himself get close
And around that time, Justice League happens
J'onn calls together a group of heroes to form a single team to combat the threats they can't handle alone
And Bruce tries to maintain an emotional distance from them too
But this is around the time he starts having really unhealthy psychological behavior
Akino Ame 10:54 pm
He pushes himself farther, and J'onn notes that it's likely because he's getting a complex about being the only normal guy on Mt. Olympus
He manages to keep up, but it's always at greater physical cost
Every time Supes takes extra hits to protect the team, Bats is pulling an allnighter so he can keep on top of the detective work
He calls himself a part-timer to maintain the emotional distance, but he's putting in all of the hours of a full-timer
And footing the bill for their expenses
When Superman appears to die in Hereafter, he completely fails to deal
Refusing Diana's offer to join the League full time
And insisting on investigating every angle, refusing to admit that his friend may have died
Akino Ame 10:56 pm
Until he finally faces the memorial alone and starts to lower his guard
And when Superman shows up alive, Diana insists that he was the one who took it the worst
While he says that he never once let himself believe that Superman had died
That he COULD be killed
Because the League has become his family at that point, and he cannot lose another family member. And not the most invulnerable of them all. It would kill him
In Wildcards, we have Ace
Joker manipulates her, and Bruce ends up manipulating Harley to find him
Yes, because the situation was desperate, but it's something early BTAS Batman would never do
He sows seeds of distrust between them, rather than trying to reason with her
Akino Ame 10:58 pm
And then he does the same to Ace, revealing that Joker never trusted her at all
But Ace comes to trust him, because he still has enough humanity inside him to try to reason with her without any kind of protection whatsoever, even though he's puking sick from the hallucinations
But then Starcrossed happens
And Bruce learns that one of his superhero family, Shayera, betrayed him
And all of them
We never learn what vote he took, although I do presume that he did vote to bring her back under stricter monitoring (if only because I don't think J'onn was quite so forgiving)
But the fiasco costs him dearly
He has to reveal his identity to his teammates
Akino Ame 11:00 pm
He has the Thanagarians break into his home and the Batcave
And he tries to sacrifice his life to save the world--a sacrifice that Superman absolutely refuses to let him make
They are left with the League broken and homeless
Desperately needing to rebuild
And in that, Batman becomes more distant
We can assume that this is the point where Return of the Joker takes place, if only because the timing makes perfect sense
Joker would be more pissed off after Ace's hallucinations wore off
And with the League fractured, it's the perfect opportunity to strike
Tim's been trusted with way too much
Akino Ame 11:02 pm
So kidnap him and brainwash him
Have Batman and Batgirl have to search for him, alone because the League can no longer afford to help
They don't have the resources they once did
It would be a betrayal of Bruce's super family
As the Bat family and the Rogue family are forever destroyed
Kaitou Mishou 11:03 pm
It also explains why Joker isn't in JLU
Akino Ame 11:03 pm
Exactly
Superman and all of the others fail to help
Not because Bruce can't bring himself to ask for help--this is Tim, Supes loves him, he would help
But because Superman needs to go everywhere, and J'onn has to go everywhere, and so do everyone else
They're spread too thin
And just as the League realizes they need to recruit so that they can protect one another--because Shayera's betrayal has left them scared and vulnerable--Bruce's only son kills his nemesis
And nothing will ever be the same again
Bruce withdraws almost completely
He encourages Green Arrow to join and become the voice of reason to keep the League sane
He recruits Question to run the investigations
It's Cadmus that gets him back in the game, and Waller becomes his equal the way Joker was
But she's never a nemesis, because Batman can see that she's just like him
She's logical and cautious
Distrusting
And for good reason
Akino Ame 11:07 pm
Because he's seen that he can't get enough done the way he is, but he can't let himself become Lord Batman and dishonor his family, his father's, legacy
But she gets him to doubt Superman
Because Superman will be judge, jury, and executioner on Doomsday
Even though, deep down, even Waller knows that Doomsday is too dangerous to leave around and this is the right call
But it scares Bruce
Bruce and Waller are two sides of the same coin in a way no one else ever was to him
They scare each other
And scare each other enough to act against their own groups
Bruce can't maintain a relationship with Diana because he's got too many issues, although he frames it as her being unable to handle him, thereby insulting her honor
Akino Ame 11:09 pm
His relationship with Barbara falls apart
And slowly, everyone starts to leave him
He stops coming to the Watchtower altogether
Alfred dies
Gordon dies and Barbara joins the police
And his own body starts to fail him
So he builds better technology
His first new suit is too powerful, putting a dangerous strain on his heart
His second, the black-and-red one, is perfect, although he still doesn't trust himself completely and puts in a failsafe to knock it out if he ever needs to
And then he has a heart attack while trying to rescue someone
And he has to pull a gun on someone
Akino Ame 11:11 pm
Never shoots, but the fact that his body has betrayed him now, betrayed him to the point where he had to consider betraying his convictions--that gets him to quit
He loses his family's company to Powers
He lives alone, except for his dog
And then Waller overwrites Warren McGinnis's DNA, giving Bruce a biological son
Terry breaks open the wall Bruce has erected over the course of 50 years
He's impatient, like Dick
But like Tim, he doesn't take Bruce's broodiness so seriously
Because he too had a rough relationship with his dad
Akino Ame 11:13 pm
But he loved him dearly, and he sympathizes with Bruce because he knows the same pain--worse, because he had the chance to build a relationship with his father before losing him
And finally, the man whose entire life revolved around his failure to find a family has one, with the son he won't ever reveal is his
Terry doesn't need the praise as badly as Dick and Tim did
But when Bruce does give it to him, he swells with pride
He stands in Bruce's defense, even to his former families
Akino Ame 11:15 pm
And when Bruce sees him starting to make the same mistakes--Melanie like Selina, Freeze again, Superman again--he lets him try and then advises him when things don't work out
Because he knows by now that telling him no outright won't help, but letting him figure things out on his own isn't good if he doesn't have actual advice
He tries to protect him from the Joker because he's so scared of losing another son
But Terry proves to be completely unafraid of him, which throws the Joker for a loop
He helps build Terry into a good man, the man he always had the potential to be, and that's long before Terry learns that he is Bruce's son
And when Terry learns, his first instinct is to yell at him and scream
Akino Ame 11:18 pm
But he goes to Waller, he learns the truth, and he goes back to help take care of his father
And carry out his legacy with pride
This is the story of Batman
You try too hard to empathize with the villains, you burn yourself out
You try to build a family, but you don't really know what one looks like, and every single one you try to build--heroic or villainous--breaks
You find yourself alone and think this is what you are destined to become
Because that's the lesson your rogues have taught you, your peers, and your betters
But then someone comes along and helps you find what you always needed
Akino Ame 11:20 pm
And that person doesn't necessarily have to be blood
The DCAU is a story about family
Good, evil, super, and normal
And everything that goes with it