Okay I’ve Been Thinking About The Parallax Retcon Again Cause God Do I Hate It. I’ve Done Some Meta

Okay I’ve been thinking about the Parallax retcon again cause god do I hate it. I’ve done some meta on it but I’m gonna focus on what it did to Hal. Earlier to day I said there wasn’t much build up to Parallax but that’s not exactly true because I wasn’t considering the frame work of Hal’s headspace.

So back after Crisis, Hal Jordan wasn’t doing so hot. His best friend had died. Carol was possessed by the Star Sapphire and committing all sorts of crimes to fuck with Hal. John and Guy weren’t that close with Hal back in the 90s. John and Hal fought over a ton of shit Carol did while possessed.

Hal was pretty isolated at this point. He tries to go to people he thought were his friends and they all wave him off or openly tell him to get over himself. Some of them were down right malicious about it. Hal wasn’t in a good place.

Then Coast City is destroyed. And Hal wants to try to fix it. He tries with the rings and the Guardians tell him no. Hal is so completely isolated at this point no one even notices that he is running to take a swan dive off the cliff of sanity.

Hal goes to Oa. He steals the rings of the other Lanterns and leaves them in Space to die. He kills Sinestro. He kills Kilowog. Then Hal steps into the Power Battery. He kills every single one of the Guardians minus Ganthet here.

And his plan? Reset the universe. Hal wants to put everything back to his it was before Crisis. When Coast City wasn’t rubble. When Barry Allen was alive.

Now the heroes step in. They look at this man who they turned away, who they ignored in his grief, in the aftermath of the destruction of his city, and they call him a villain. Then they act surprised he doesn’t wanna hear what they have to say? That he maybe doesn’t care about their opinions on him because they certainly couldn’t be bothered with him before this.

In the end Ollie shoots him in the chest. And Ollie thinks he killed Hal but he didn’t. Hal and Kyle just ended up on Oa.

And the heroes wipe their hands clean. They were then absolved of any guilt around Hal because he was clearly a bad guy. They couldn’t have stopped him. But that’s not true. Anyone at all offering a hand out might have stopped him.

By the time Hal attacks Kyle in New York he’s desperate. He has no other plan than try Zero Hour again. He wants the Green Lantern ring. He wants to be a Green Lantern. That’s all Hal. Hal is there and he’s been practically screaming for help for years.

And Kyle oh hopelessly naive Kyle is the first one to tell Hal what he’s doing isn’t heroic. Everyone else declared Hal himself a villain.

Kyle was the one who saw the hero in Hal. Kyle went to the Source Wall to ask for Hal’s help in restarting the sun.

And only once Hal had died did the others look at him like a hero again. And with a bittersweet taste nonetheless.

Kyle set up Hal’s funeral. He made the memorial. He wanted everyone to know that Hal was a hero truly and fully.

But they turned their backs to Hal. They decided he wasn’t worth their time. What good are they to decide who’s a sinner and who’s a saint to paraphrase Hal himself.

And then the retcon. That it wasn’t Hal at all. It was Parallax.

That is their wipe away for everything that happened to Hal. It cloaks his depression, his anger, his loneliness in some supernatural fear bug and we can all just move on.

It means when Hal tells Barry about it that Barry waves it off as not Hal. As if nothing Hal was feeling then matters. As if Hal didn’t exist at all. Just Parallax.

This means the other heroes don’t have to feel bad at all, as if they would, for abandoning Hal because his emotions were being influenced. Nothing at all could have been done.

Except then they fucked up again when Kyle was possessed by Parallax. Hal held out a hand and he helped Kyle break free. Which means yes they could have helped Hal. But they chose not to.

The Parallax retcon is a massive cop out so the writers didn’t have to address a characters actual mental state. Because it’s easier to draw a smile I suppose.

But even with the retcon it shows how the others dropped the ball. Hal wasn’t suffering in silence and they “couldn’t have known” he was asking for help. He needed help. And they turned him away.

TL;DR: Hal Jordan needs some better friends

This was inspired by @pulsar-1919 thank you for that reply about The List. I forgot how much of a dick everyone was to Hal. I knew about Bruce in the robe being a jackass but that’s par for the course for Bruce tbh.

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batcasscainman

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I felt the need to make this.

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batcasscainman

3 months ago

The batkids love “Uncle Ollie” because he’s the cool uncle who comes over and randomly throws things at them to catch in increasingly tricky intervals.

They’re flipping backwards over furniture trying to catch random little darts constantly whenever Oliver’s there to talk to Bruce about JL stuff. They need to catch the thing, which drives Bruce quietly crazy even as he acknowledges it’s a useful test of reflexes.

Uncle Ollie sometimes gets bold enough to try and throw shit at Bruce. This isn’t a good idea for several reasons.

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batcasscainman

1 month ago

Everyone: girl dad bruce 😔😩😌

Barbara:

What everyone pictures when they say girldad Bruce: Guy who adores Cass and treats her like his little princess and lets her get away with everything and will stay still while she does his hair and paints his nails.

What Barbara has seen that actually fits the girldad label in the most toxic of ways: Projection, holding her to the same impossible standards he holds himself because she's Just That Good, isolating her, possessive and threatened by the thought of her dating aka shotgun dad, in denial that she can be anything less than perfect in a way that actively hurts both of them, that kind of specific girldad misogyny where she IS his little princess but this is Not A Good Thing half of the time. Or even most of the time depending on who you ask. Her father's favourite son in the sense that he doesn't particularly care for anything girly she might be interested in and dismisses most of them as a waste of time, but LOVES sparring and solving cases with her. Swings between overbearing when she's doing well and neglectful/dismissive once she messes up. Give Barbara Gordon a hammer and let her bonk Bruce Wayne on the head with it at least once. She's earned it.

Note: This is preboot Bruce and Cass. New 52 and Rebirth Bruce and Cass are a lot healthier but also a lot simpler.

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batcasscainman

3 months ago

Constantine’s Kids

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batcasscainman

6 months ago

This is my fav ship

So, like, I'm sleep deprived and it's midnight where I'm at, but

It would be so cute that while Cass was running away from David Cain, Cass met Danny! She flips Dash onto his back, and Danny was so amazed, he decided to buy Cass a burger from the last of his allowance as thanks.

Cass was so hungry, she just accepted it, and ate while being seated comfortably in the booth.

She didn't know what the boy was talking about, but she learned: the bright sometimes round light is called the moon, and the tiny bright dots in the dark sky are stars.

The boy who is talking to her feels like them.

"Star," she said, getting his attention.

The boy lets out a confused, "Huh?" before Cass points to him. "Star."

The boy was a few seconds confused more, before realizing, "Me? I'm a star?"

Cass shook her head. She points to herself. "Cass." Then she points to Danny. "Star."

"Oh!" the boy exclaimed, before laughing himself silly. "No, no, no!" he said. "I'm Danny! I'm not a star! But I'd like a constellation named after me!"

Cass shook her head. She points to Danny. "Danny. Star." Then she points to herself. "Cassandra. Cass."

"I THINK I GET IT NOW!" Danny said, slightly standing from his seat in excitement. "I'm nicknamed Star! Is that it? I'm Star?"

Cass nodded fervently.

"Hot Fudge!" Danny cheered. When he calmed down, he turned to Cass with a wide grin, and points to her, "Moon."

Cass' eyes widen, then, she smiles a smile full of teeth, close to letting out a laugh. She points to herself. "Moon." And then to Danny, "Star."

The interaction is cut short when Cass catches sight of David Cain prowling along the streets.

She hastily gets up and runs away, never looking back even as Star calls for her.

Years later, they meet again...

When this time he is running away from his own David Cain.

They don't recognize each other at first.

He knocks the assassin that had been chasing Cass unconscious.

From her first meeting with Star, she made a tradition of treating people to burgers when they helped her. So, as she hears her ghostly savior's stomach grumble, she invites him to Batburger.

It is here she realizes that she recognizes him. Somewhat. So she asks about the galaxies and constellations, and if there is a constellation named "Danny" yet.

Danny widens his eyes. "Moon," he breathes out.

Cass puts a hand over his free one.

"Star."

❤❤❤

While this was going on, a bunch of birds and a bat were watching far away, almost all of them with binoculars.

Dick: "B. Please stop growling. And Little D, copying B will hurt your throat."

So, Like, I'm Sleep Deprived And It's Midnight Where I'm At, But

I love it, thank you~ TAT

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batcasscainman

3 weeks ago

The first and last time I went to Red Hood's subreddit I saw a comment complaining that everyone is convinced Cass can beat Jason in a fight and their argument was 'jason can shoot her, what would she do after that'...like jason would even get a chance to pull out a gun on cass😭😭 also cass has been shot at since like the age of three. just take the l and move on.

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batcasscainman

3 weeks ago

Cass: Can I have your burger.

Dick:??? No I'm eating it. You have your own right there.

Cass: Remember when you abandoned me to Slade when I was drugged and mind controlled and then after I got free the first thing you did was punch me in the face.

Dick, sliding his burger over: You KNOW it's more complicated than that. You know it.

Tim, watching this all go down: Hey Jason remember when you broke into Titans tower just to beat me up?

Jason, taking a large bite of his own burger: Keep annoying me and this time I'll do more than just leave you unconscious.

Tim: :/

Cass, whispering to him: You gotta go for the ones with guilt complexes. It doesn't work otherwise.

Tim: Gotcha, good to know.

Cass:... Soo remember when I was drugged and brainwashed and you did nothing but accept it for months?

Tim, grumbling and sliding his own burger over to her: I never accepted it! That's just not true!

Cass, now eating three burgers at once: :)

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batcasscainman

3 months ago

Alfred: Injury report?

26-year-old Bruce: All the blood is on the inside?

Alfred:

Some years down the road

Bruce: Injury report?

Tim: I left no DNA behind.

Cass: I can still beat the rest of you.

Jason: Haven’t died again.

Dick: No bones are visible from the outside.

Damian: I won.

Duke: I think I discovered a new power.

Steph: You’re not my dad.

Bruce:

Alfred: And how *is* Karma doing today, Master Bruce?

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batcasscainman

2 months ago

I procrastinated a whole lot but I finished mostly

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batcasscainman

1 month ago

this is hands down my favourite Cass quote and imo people at times take it too literally. "i don't kill but i don't lose" doesn't mean she is physically incapable of losing a fight or she's Just That Skilled it means if Cass really wants to win she will do whatever it takes short of killing to come out on top. she will fight till her legs give out till her body breaks down till the bitter end and then she will get up and keep fighting. "i don't kill but i don't lose" isn't a mere statement of fact, it encapsulates the powerful "do or die" mentality she brings to every single fight. fight like you're dying. fight to win. do anything but kill.

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