Duke Thomas - Blog Posts

I like to think that all of the batboys are, in some way, scholars in one particular field*. So I've compiled a list of the areas the batboys are the most knowledgeable about:

Richard: math, musical history, anatomy

Jason: classics, ancient history, theology

Tim: anthropology, photography, textiles

Duke: physical sciences, architecture

Damian: art history, zoology, black-smithing

*For clarification, all my knowledge of the DCU is from the Young Justice TV series, the CW Flash, wikis, and other DC fans. Please correct me if I'm wrong about something.

Age and height difference between the Batfam

(In my au)

Bruce - 36

Dick - 25

Jason - 22

Barry - 20

Tim - 19

Stephen - 18

Duke - 17

Cassian - 17

Damian - 14

~~Duke Thomas headcannons~~

•he’s about 6’1

•he’s so sweet

•so respectful

•skater boy 100%

•has had multiple skating related injuries

•he sometimes feels out of place as the only meta in the batfam

•he listens to hozier

•he loves Brooklynn 99 and Fresh Prince of Bel Air

•claims he gets whitewashed sometimes from living in the manor and leaves to “retain the black sanity he lost from these crazy white people”

•he literally hates galas

•whenever Bruce tries to bring him to one he always acts like he’s allergic to rich white people

•does skincare routine

•pierced ears

•loves converse shoes

•miles morales coded

•he’s a goody two shoes honestly

•he has locs

•3c or 4c hair

•he loves rnb music and rap

•he can get down to some white girl bangers tho

•he dressed up with dick for Halloween as white chicks

•he grew up in church

•Kendrick Lamar is his favorite artist

•he can’t sleep in the dark

•sometimes he manipulates the color spectrum to make him invisible

•loves gossip

•he has doctor handwriting

•obsessed with blueberry muffins

•forever quoting a meme or movie reference

•obsessed with monster drinks

•loves gummy bears

•sings like Bruno mars

•tongue pokes out of his lips when he’s really focused

•certified fanboy

•love playing board games

•especially clue

•and among us

BatKids Sexuality Head Canons

Dick Grayson: Bisexual

Jason Todd: Gay

Tim Drake: Bisexual (canon)

Damian: Aromantic/Asexual

Cass Cain: Lesbian

Barbara Gordon: Straight

Duke Thomas: Straight, but experimented

Stephanie Brown: Queer

Bruce: *messing around at a gala as a child, pushes into an old scary lady*

Lady: *scowling* I hope you get a child exactly like you.

*years later*

Dick: *stubborn with anger issues*

Bruce: oh no

Jason: I hate you! You’re not my dad

Bruce: *remembering all the times he yelled that at alfred* oh nooo

Tim: *stays up for days obsessing over cases, drinks coffee like it’s disappearing tomorrow*

Bruce: *quietly moved away his files and mugs* oh nooooo

Cass: *charges into a death match to become the best fighter she can*

Bruce: *remembering every training he did before Batman* ....pleaseeee

Damian: I hate school! I don’t need it *gets expelled from every school he goes to*

Bruce: *remembers EXACTLY how many times he got expelled and for why* ....fuck

Bruce: *stared at Duke and Steph*

jason to the batfam gc at 3am: @ duke @ babs this could be us but u playin (by the old mans rules) :/

duke: god i wish that were me

babs: im the girl in red who knew that had to be done

duke: im the girl in brown pretending to be shocked in case she’s caught on camera, so she can just say she was forced to participate and is left off the hook

jason: damn you’re good thomas

bruce: you know we can all read the groupchat right.

Wow that’s like fire 🔥🔥🔥🔥 straight up gas damn, I wanna eat it

Joker Junior Prompt

==================================

HEAR ME OUT- GUYS SIT YOUR ASSES DOWN AND LISTEN TO MY ANGST PROMPT:

So we all know the Joker has been a pain in the ass for everyone, yadda yadda, backstory stuff, boo hoo crying and shit.

This usually leads to great angsty fics revolving around Jason and/or Tim. Usually having the best angst covering Joker Junior and stuff. I’ve seen the headcannons, cried at the fics, great stuff.

BUT, but- no guys, hear me out, consider this. During one of Tim’s episodes -I was thinking this is years after, already going through his Red Robin character growth- it triggers after a long, long, time. How it started is up to your interpretation. But, instead of Jason being the first one to find him during his episode, no, it’s Duke Thomas.

THINK ABOUT IT!! Guys, the man already witnessed his parents go mad from Joker Venom, can you imagine how he’d react seeing someone else he considers his family show signs of being Jokerized!? THE POTENTIAL!!

And like, of course he’s not going to know about the JJ stuff and already assume the worst. Other members can get involved too, but image the scare Duke -alone- would have upon first witnessing Tim’s episode!

—

This may also be me trying to include Duke into more batfam fics, but hey, that man deserves more love and attention, even if it means dragging him through some more angst- get off my back!!

Hello tumblr!! im pandora and kinda new

currently obbsessed with wfa batfam but have not read the actual dc comics cos i dunno where to find em

i picked up knitting last year and im currently trying to knit a seater with the nightwing rebirth suit pattern (finger stripes and all)dunno if i will follow through with the plan but if i do ill def update

like i said, new to the app so i dunno how to tag properly but i know the basics(eg add spoilers tag if posting the fast pass eps)

somewhat a writer so might post hcs or fics but im really insecure about my writing so maybe after sometime

a lot of grammer mistakes cos my grammers bad and im from singapore so i speak alot of singlish

i decided to start interacting online cos im having troubles interacting irl and its easier online, so far ive had some luck on reddit, ticktok, and omegle so i have high hopes for tumblr too

if you managed to read the entire thing, tysm i really appreciate it pls be nice and no mean comments, tysm

Random Funny Batman… Stephanie and Duke Sass the Joker

Dick: I just think, maybe, you're wrong.

Duke: Wow Richard, invalidating a young black man during Black History Month!

Dick, confused: Its April

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tim takes the last two cookies for him and Bernard.

Duke, who already had one but wanted one for school: Woooow Timothy, taking from a young black man during Black History Month!!

Tim: Its September!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jason accidently hits Duke a little too hard during a sparing match

Duke, who is completely fine the next second but is in that mood: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW—

Jason: Its fucking November and you're fine!!

Duke, ready to double down: WOW JASON PETER TODD, BEATING DOWN AND THEN INVALIDATING THE EXPERIANCE OF A YOUNG BLACK MAN DURING BLACK HISTORY MONTH!!

Sorry for the long wait! New batch of kitty Batfam charms are now available!!!

Bruce, Jason, Dick, Damian, Tim and now Duke and Cass!

You can get them here in my new shop!

please reblog if possible

Reposting this on my main account

A happy mother's days to the mothers of my favourite Bat Kids, some of you weren't the best for reasons out of your own hands, but I'd be damned if I let anyone tell me that each of you didn't love your special little babies with all your heart & no amount of fanon, classist or racist comics or takes will change that. This is y'all day so lets celebrate it talking about your favourite Bat Mom moment

(P.S anyone tries passing Bruce, Dick, Selina, Alfred or Jason as a Bat Mom will be promptly ignored)

You know what we need?, Duke & Waylon just vibing, like fun fact Killer Croc is a black man as reinforced by Absolute Batman, I just want Duke like stopping a rampage of Croc & while he is waiting for the cops he just talks with about stuff or if this is one of those cases where Croc's atavism had made him feral & he is compliant after calming down they could play some spades or dominoes shit like that. Or you could have Duke visiting Croc for help on his Literature essays when Jason is out of town.

Yo Duke Nation, where y'all think Elaine is originally from, cause it says she ended up in Gotham after running from Gnomon

Here’s a little map of the world, on the left of the islands there can be whatever land from FromSoftware you want really, it’s just a small little island. Also, I whipped this up in seven minutes, I promise you that my other drawings do not look this hideous, 😭 I will update it at some point.

The Lands of whatever the fuck I’ve gotten myself into. Honestly i just wanted to do a drawing now I’m writing a whole ass back story to a small idea of an AU I had.

The Great City of Gotham.

Backstory-

Gotham, the Great Capital City of the Deathstone Isle, was once a source of riches and landmass. The king, Thomas Wayne, and his Queen Consort, Martha Wayne, were just and fair rulers of the Islands that house Gotham and its few daughter cities. Martha and Thomas had a son, Bruce. However, one day they were found assassinated in their bed chambers, which left Bruce building up anger and resentment to people outside of his personal life over the years.

Eventually, these feelings show, along with everyone else’s as The Plague sweeps across the lands, transforming all life, waiting for you, dear Ronin Soldier, to vanquish them and stop The Plague from spreading any more.

List of Locations in ‘Greater Gotham’-

•Wayne Family Manor

•Crime Alley

•The Reapers Harbour

•Church of the Bat

•Church of the Flame

•The Crawling Cathedral

•Arkham Asylum

List of locations in ‘Outer Gotham’

•Old Gotham

•Lower Gotham

•Wastelands

•Blackgate

•Iceberg Tavern

•Academy of Gotham

•Ace Potions and Magic

Total numbers of ‘Bosses’ within the Great City of Gotham:

23

UPDATE about the Batfam x Fromsoft ware designs I’m currently planning. There will be two of each character, one before ‘The Plague’ and one after. After each one I’ll post about the lore behind these characters and why they ‘changed’ during The Plague.

Also, at some point today or tomorrow I’ll post about the actual land around them, what it’s like, The Plague that happened, a bit of backstory.

I will probably at some point expand outside the Batfam to the rest of DC.

Here is a list of characters that I’ve got planned out so far-

•Bruce Wayne

•Dick Grayson

•Jason Todd

•Cassandra Cain

•Tim Drake

•Stephanie Brown

•Duke Thomas

•Damian Wayne

•Alfred

•Harper Row

•Barbra Gordon

•Kate Kane

Finally, I’ll tell you now, please don’t expect regular updates for photos, I’m not good at time management, I’m already ten hours into the first drawing of Bruce, and I’m no where near done yet.

Thanks all! x

Hi, I’m pretty new here.

Would anybody be interested at all if I posted my Batfam x pretty much any FromSoftware designs over time? Like, genuinely, if this gets any attention, I’ll post them when they’re finished, or I might just post them anyway.

LANCE BRUNER!! <333

I HAVE MADE A DIFFERENCE!!!!

(I think. I choose to believe that)

When I had first discovered this hidden Batfam character, (before the the batfam was really a concept! (This little blond shit existed before Jason Todd!!)) there were about 8-9 fanfics of him on AO3. All published months or YEARS apart.

I made my first post on Lance in early October of 24 and my second post on Lance (and Duke because Duke) in early January.

We went from 8-9 to 12!!! (It's probably a coincidence) There are somewhat recent ones too! From this month!!!

Lance content hath expanded, if only slightly, and thus, the world hath changed for the better.

I would like a story about Duke Thomas being able to see ghosts as another facet of his powers.

And like… Him just vibing in the manor, only to see a blond ghost kid following around his family, with funny, unappreciated quips.

Who are you??

I’m Lance. I’m technically your older brother.

Chaos ensues.

(Dick, Bruce, and Alfred do NOT talk about Lance and therefore, no one knows that they had another brother named Lance Bruner).

Duke Thomas and the Robin Mantle

There's been some minor discussion about whether Duke counts as an 'official' Robin or not. While that discussion is interesting, I actually don't think it's the crux of the Duke and Robin issue. To me, the question is whether or not he should be Robin. And, to me, the answer is definitively yes.

This is purely my opinion, and I haven't read every single Duke comic so it's possible I've misread/missed things. Any Duke fans, absolutely feel free to add or disprove anything here!

The Changing Robin

The first thing to understand is that Robin, as a mantle, has shifted with each person it's been passed to. Tim's Robin doesn't mean the same thing as Jason's Robin, which doesn't mean the same thing as Damian's. A mark of a true Robin is the ability to shift the meaning of Robin by wearing the colours.

Duke absolutely fulfils this criteria. In fact, him and his We Are Robin crew are the biggest shift in the meaning of Robin since its creation.

Cover from We Are Robin #1. The phrase "We're not sidekicks. We're an army!" signals the shift from Robin as individual to Robin as collective; from Robin as tied to the singular Batman to Robin as a wider movement, a socio-political force. The last question, "are you ready?", is vitally important as well. Duke as Robin is meant to be different. He's meant to be non-normative, a groundbreaking turn in what Robin looks and feels like.

At the end of the first issue, a disguised Alfred (who started We Are Robin) thinks the following:

Alfred infuses the phrase "of color" with two meanings: the Robin colours, and People of Colour. By explicitly linking Robin to POC, the comic is suggesting that not only can kids of colour be Robin, but that they should be Robin. Robins of Colour are the "future of this city," and Duke is the vanguard of this future. It's no coincidence that the Robin before (Damian) and the one after (Maps) are both POC. Duke, however, is the Robin that gives the mantle an explicit direction towards diversity: him and WAR use Robin as a social movement, and in doing so transform the colours of Robin into a symbol for the diversity in Gotham and the world.

Robin as Collective

Duke doesn't change Robin alone. The point of We Are Robin is that Robin is a collective, and it's important that Duke doesn't start WAR (as much as people like to say he did). By joining late, the comic demonstrates that Duke is part of a bigger movement.

The Robin community represents POC solidarity, the necessity and ability of the oppressed to band together. Lee Bermejo ends We Are Robin's final issue with "stress on the word "we"" - Duke's arc, in one sense, is learning to rely and work with others (he initially mistrusts basically everyone). The WAR community is essential to both Duke's character development and his tenure as Robin.

So to have this page, affirming his loyalty and love for them, to be followed immediately by them being written out is... something.

Duke appears next in Batman: Rebirth, where Bruce gives him the yellow suit and tells him he's not looking for a Robin. As soon as he stops being Robin, the community around him quite literally falls apart. Izzy sticks around for a bit but fades into obscurity, Riko and Dax turn evil, Dre ends up in Arkham - all of these fates are antithetical to these characters and genuinely tragic.

Batman: The Secret Files: The Signal is possibly the worst Duke story in existence, but it's important to understanding why Robin!Duke mattered. Riko calls Signal 'Bat-Signal', highlighting his sudden reduction to a Batman acolyte. His friends turning on him shows how, by losing Robin, he also lost the community formed by WAR. In every way, his transition into the Signal was saturated by loss.

Robin Doesn't Need A Batman

Bruce giving Duke the Signal suit is borderline insulting. He already had an identity predicated on the fact that he didn't need Batman.

From Batman (2011) #45, Batman: Rebirth, and Night of the Monster Men. "Robin doesn't need a Batman" is an inversion of Tim's 'Batman needs a Robin' - in many ways, Duke is the opposite of Tim, who's rich, White, and whose Robin is the most focused on helping Batman. If Tim is the ideal Robin-as-partner, Duke is the ideal Robin-as-individual. His idea of Robin is not, and has never been, associated with Batman.

People who say Duke isn't an official Robin since he was never Batman's partner miss the point. He is Robin because he was never Batman's partner. That's what Robin means to him - a mantle free from Bruce and all authority.

"Batman is on the gargoyle. Robin... Robin is on the street." Robin is the person on the ground, who lives and belongs to the people. When Duke becomes Signal, this ground aspect - as well as his separation from Batman - is gone.

In this cover from Batman & The Signal, they gave him a Bat symbol and put him on a gargoyle. They erased every single part of his Robin philosophy.

The Original Robin

Post-We Are Robin, Bruce becomes the Batfam member Duke interacts with the most. Besides the insult of Bruce withholding Robin, this fact also strips away one of my favourite aspects about early Duke - he was tied to the Batfamily through the Robins (especially Damian and Dick), not by Batman.

It's Dick, the original Robin, who chooses him.

Dick recognises that him and Duke have a lot in common. He tells Duke in Robin War that he's "got it," and that he's a natural leader - Dick knows Duke has what it takes to be Robin, and explicitly endorses him.

Not only that, but when Dick sends Duke to jail (along with the other Robins, official and unofficial), he tells Duke that he "take[s] care of [his] family". He basically inducts Duke into the family then and there!

Dick's endorsement of Duke makes it more interesting that Bruce doesn't make him Robin. Despite Duke's disillusionment at the end of Robin War (dispelled soon after in WAR), the events in RW confirm that Duke can and should be Robin. Bruce not making Duke Robin is defying both Duke's potential and Dick's right to choose Robins.

Robin as Family

On the rooftop in Robin War, Dick tells Duke that Robin is about family. This is the fundamental connection between them both: Robin acts as the link to the families they've lost and gained.

For Dick, Robin keeps John and Mary Grayson alive, while also symbolising his connection to Bruce. For Duke, Robin is the intersection of three families: the heroic legacy of his parents, the tight-knit community of We Are Robin, and the newfound friendship of the Batfamily.

In Batman (2011) #45, Duke tries to give his friend Daryl a Robin badge. He says, "you and me, we came up together. We're fam[ily]." Even before Dick, Duke associated Robin with family, and Daryl implies in the next issue that Duke became Robin because of his parents' inclination to help. Signal, of course, also comes from his mom; but unlike Robin, Signal isn't a legacy mantle. As Robin, he constantly inducted people like Daryl, Riko, Damian, etc. into his family. As Signal, his circle shrinks immeasurably, until it's really only the Batfamily and the Outsiders if we're being generous. (Daryl also turns evil - a really unfortunate pattern for Duke side characters).

Lark and Conclusion

I'm going to end with this panel from Batman & The Signal #1, which is emblematic of the way DC has treated Duke and Robin as a whole. Bruce tells Duke that Lark is "too soft" a name. DC was probably debating between Lark and Signal, but it's telling what they went with. How is Lark too soft, exactly? How is it any softer than Robin?

By overtly dismissing the bird-like name, Bruce - and DC editorial, or whoever decided this - is definitively moving Duke away from Robin. And it's a shame. In Duke's transition from Robin to Signal, he has next to no agency. Bruce tells him he's not Robin, Bruce gives him the suit, Bruce tells him not to be Lark, Bruce gives him another suit. It's a stark contrast from his induction into Robin - though Alfred arranged it, he gave Duke a choice. Duke chooses Robin.

Duke being disallowed the Robin mantle is, to me, on par with DC stripping Cass of the Bat symbol during the New 52. The racism behind both these decisions cannot be overstated - both Cass and Duke redefined their mantles, and their mantles defined them. At least Cass' mistake has been corrected, and lots of writers and fans acknowledge how horrible that period was. For Duke, he was never given a real chance. And it's unlikely he ever will be.

This is not a knock against the Signal identity or any writers. However, it genuinely saddens me to think that all of this story potential - Duke's redefinition of Robin, his relationship to Dick, his connection to We Are Robin, and above all his ability to choose who he wants to be - has been neglected and cast aside. Even if they never acknowledge his role as Robin, I hope future stories centre him once again, because it's what he deserves.

CEO of jumping off stuff and shouting snappy oneliners

Most people forget or ignore Duke Thomas, when they talk about the batfamily. And even the ones who include him say that he is the 'normal' one. Some people argue with that, and say that Duke is like the rest of the batkids with the example of him jumping out of a moving car and into a bridge.

Duke is way more than that. So, I complied a list of facts and feats of Duke Thomas. This will most likely be multiple parts.

Duke swear a lot.

Has a record of getting kicked out of schools.

Knew Leslie Thompkins way before he met the batfamily. She is also the one who found him foster homes.

His parents are jokerized, that's why he is put to foster homes. He also takes care of them in the mental hospital.

He doesn't trust the police.

He is very sarcastic. Especially to the cops.

He jumped out of a moving police car and through a bridge. The reason why he was arrested is because he had wore red shoes. In those times, vigilantism was very illegal and appearently red was the symbol of Robin.

One time, Bruce got amnesia. And Duke, to make him remember, pulled him and himself onto a railway and did not move even when he saw a train coming. Thankfully, Bruce snapped out and pulled them of the rails.

His mom used to call him Babybird.

Some villains nicknamed him as Babybat.

He understands Joker in a way Bruce never did.

He doesn't see himself apart of the Batfamily.

His powers are: He can technically see peoples weak parts through how much power they concentrate to them. He can see glimpses of future, rewind the present time like a video. He has increased healing, super fast reflexes. He can see particles in substences. He can literally see light. He also has a bit of telepathic powers. He can speak and be seen on different frequencies, so he can be invisible or speak in a tone that no one would understand. Invisibility.

To add to it, he did not have shadow powers from birth. A supervillain, kind of mutated his genes so that he could control the darkness.

His mother had powers.

First time he went out as Signal, people hated him.

He was The Signal, way before discovering his powers. He discovered his powers when his father tried to recruit him to his endeavours.

His father is a supervillain named Gnomon, and he has the same powers as Duke. Gnomon also had a picture of child Duke on his desk.

Bruce gifted him his own base of operation, called The Hatch.

Bruce called him a gift to the city.

He is good with Damian.

This is the end of Part 1. I'll continue in Part 2.

Would Batman, the Robins and Batgirls be like ghosts hunting Gotham everyone knows are ghosts or like they think their cryptids?

Also here’s some ideas for this how each one of the kids dies for sadness.

————

Dick’s death

Dick dies the same night as his parents, he didn’t wait and preformed the stunt with them. Bruce finds him alone and confused not realizing he’s dead.

I don’t really see Bruce aging you can disagree.

Gotham starts seeing these spectators of two boys scaring criminals and playing in Wayne manor (which has been left abandoned since the Wayne’s death). Everyone knows not to go near the place because of hearing the disembodied giggles of two boys or foot steps running through the manor at night. Sometimes they say past dark you can see two small heads peaking out of the upper floor windows.

Meanwhile Dicks having the time of his life in the manor. As it doesn’t look abandoned to ghosts. So Dick thinks only his parents died but Bruce a much older spirit knows that isn’t the case. But he tells Dick he’ll help him try to take down his parents murder. (Which really isn’t the case, it’s really avenging his own along with his parents death)

Dick does find out he’s dead eventually, mainly because no one ever seems to notice him or Bruce when they save them. So Bruce let’s the cat out of the bag, and Dick is reasonably upset.

————

Jason’s death

Jason dies little match girl style, (if you know you know) he freezes. Jason doesn’t move on the for the fact he never really got to live so to speak. So he just hangs out in the Gotham alleys, scaring poor citizens as he goes.

Jason becomes his own kinda cryptid. The spirit of crime alley.

People think he’s Bruce for a long time because Jason’s death was so underwhelming no one knew he died till some homeless people found his corpse due to the smell. Because the Wayne’s were a more prominent death to happen in that area, they all think it’s the ghost of the lost Bruce Wayne who hunts the streets of crime alley. Rather then Jason Todd, the nobody street kid who died as he lived, alone, cold, and hungry. (Don’t mind me I might low key cry at this)

When Bruce finds him he doesn’t know what to do, there’s no attachment he has other then Gotham itself, how is he supposed to help this kid move on? So Bruce just takes him in hoping Jason will just kinda, burn himself out. Ghosts can do that right? Dick tries suggesting Jason has any idea what he could be attached to or what purpose he has and Jason just shrugs. He has no clue ether, he was kinda hoping when he died he’d be free from Gotham forever to be honest.

So

Bruce makes him his second Robin in hopes Jason can find something to do while they find his attachment, that won’t make him go off his rocker. Because ghosts go crazy without something to keep them busy.

Jason gets resurrected at this time, Bruce and Dick are both sad and relieved thinking they finally found the thing Jason was attached to after the finding his mom. But that isn’t that case.

————

Tim’s death

Tim dies alone, mainly due to neglect. It wasn’t out of malice intent, but Tim died trying to find out clues about what the “spirits of Gotham” (Bruce, Dick and Jason) are. He died due to an accident, but his parents soon followed. Finding out he was missing just as they got home, going out to look for him. However Tim gets caught in a villain attack and dies. They both later die due to their grief.

Tim was actually very likely to pass on, but got lost for a split second. While simultaneously gaining a attachment to Bruce and Dick because this last thought was connected to Batman and Robin.

When Tim tells Bruce and Dick he knows he’s dead, but he can’t seem to move on. Dick asks “well what was the most important thing to you before you died?” And Tim just responds “You two.”

And that creates a new “aw crap” moment between Bruce and Dick because “how to make a kid pass on when his most important thing was two ALSO dead kids?”

So Tim, Dick and Bruce come to the conclusion, Dick and Bruce have to pass on or Tim is stuck forever in Gotham. Tim ends up helping because it’s the right thing to do, but slowly grows to resent the fact he’s stuck in Gotham.

————

Barbara’s death

She dies her first night as Batgirl, Dick and Bruce tried to save her but she fell to her death from a rafter. Her attachment was to Gordon, mainly to keep him safe. Because that’s something that couldn’t be resolved over night, Dick and Bruce let her stay in the manor out in the hope it will keep her stable and not wondering around Gotham.

She’s mostly content, she visits Gordon and tries to bring him some sort of comfort after her death. He’s become consumed by work.

————

Cassandra’s death

She died as soon as she made it to Gotham. It wasn’t any spectacular she died from starvation, she couldn’t speak so she couldn’t ask for help or get help. She didn’t move on because she was terrified to do so, her attachment become her want to do better then she did in life and make up for what she did.

The others get her prospective and offer that maybe if she does good maybe she’ll end up in a better place after she moves on. Cass soon learns she probably won’t ever leave. Not because she can’t, because she wants to do good. Being able to make up for her mistake is the best things she could’ve asked for.

Though she lives in constant fear that one day her father will find her body and she’ll be forced on the run again, because he wants to bring her back.

————

Stephanie’s death

Steph dies because of her dad. He ended up killing her by accident and she felt resentful of him and that resentment turned into her attachment.

She was definitely all for murdering her dad but turns out killing someone for killing you doesn’t land you in very happy places when you die. Even if it is justified. So more for her own safety, the others discourage her from killing for her own sake. She doesn’t listen at first till everyone puts it into perspective how bad hell is.

Steph eventually learns to have mercy for him, but it takes a while before they lock him up. Steph became more motivated by her father killing her making her mother fall deeper into her drug addiction.

————

Dukes death (I’m mixed on this one)

Duke actually dies during the initial Riddler attack. His attachment became his parents similar to Barbara to Gordon. He was dead set on saving his parents, creating an attachment to always keep them safe.

Turns out, metta powers work even in death.

Because they knew he wasn’t going to move on easily or sit and do nothing they made Duke one of them. He’s actually the only one people widely know in Gotham. But no one thinks the phantom is a hero, most people think Dukes a trick of the light so to speak. Or something like that.

————

Also each one of the kids have one area they hang out besides the manor.

Dick hangs out around Halys circus

Jason and Bruce of course hang around crime alley

Stephanie and Duke hang around their parents places

Barbara hangs around Gordon and the GCPD building

Cass doesn’t really have a place but she does occasionally goes to the place she died out of paranoia

And after the Drakes move in close to Wayne manor Tim hangs around it watching over his parents

————

As for Helena, Harper and Kate. They still exist there’s just no vigilante in the area that has inspired them to dawn the mask. But Kate and Harper have been inspired by the myth of the “Spirits of Gotham” before to consider it.

————

Now as for the main idea of this Au who are most for and whose the most against it?

Team: Hey I wanna be alive again

Duke, Steph and Babes

Team: I don’t know, maybe?

Tim and Dick

Team: I don’t wanna be alive again

Cass and Bruce

Ghost Batfamily AU where Bruce dies with his parents and simply never leaves and slowly over time he gathers the rest of his birds as they die in Gothams dirt.

Jason dies when he's twelve, 3 years later he disappears and a boy comes back to life in a pit of green.

Red Hood takes the League by storm because as far as they're aware there has never been a hero in Gotham, Jason is just desperate to find the children that had become his family again.

Duke, I love you man

Duke is 1000% sure he does not want Bruce as his dad. Whenever he’s asked about it he rearranges which family member Bruce is. Everything but a father

Reporter: Mr. Thomas, have you officially been adopted into the Wayne family?

Duke: Why would my great uncle adopt me? You sound dumb.

Reporter: I– what?

Duke: Bruce Wayne's my great uncle, twice removed. He doesn’t need to adopt me. Plus I still have a dad.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

New Teacher at a parent teacher conference with Bruce and Duke: Mr. Wayne, your son–

Duke: He’s not my dad.

Teacher: excuse me?

Duke: He’s not my dad, he’s my half brother.

Teacher:… Huh?

Duke: what? you don’t see the resemblance?

Bruce pinching the bridge of his nose, feeling a mirage brewing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Villain of the week: Why don’t you fly back to Papa bat, Day bird. This isn’t a kids game.

Duke: Excuse me, Batman is my great grandmother five times removed and you’ll respect that.

Villain, beyond confused: I– I don’t even know what to say to that man.

The more I look at this art, the more chaotic it gets- 🤧🤧🤧

Turns out I'm still alive

duke thomas 😄

& him hanging out with the waynes :)

YES! YES! MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY! GLAD IM NOT THE ONLY ONE!!!

Duke Thomas looks after Tim Drake

Logically he doesn’t need to. Tim is Red Robin after all. A hero. And just like all heroes, they go through things. But the things Tim has been through?

Let’s just say they hit close to home.

Joker Junior—JJ—is a bit of an open secret in the Wayne household. Nobody talks about it, but everyone knows. Duke, a more recent addition, learns about it when he walks by Tim’s room one night, only to freeze as he catches the muffled sound of laughter. He knows that kind of laughter. It’s practically carved into his brain.

No warning is given before Duke busts into Tim room, expecting the worst. He finds Tim sitting on the floor, knees pulled up to his chest, laughing that terrible laugh.

“Tim!” Duke yells, panic spiking as he runs to his side. Had Joker broken in? Was Tim okay? He takes his shoulders and shakes him. Not again, please not again—

That seemed to be enough to snap Tim out of it, startling him lucid. “Duke?”

“Tim! You alright man? What happened—did Joker—”

Mortification dawns on Tim’s face, the detective immediately putting the pieces together. “Oh fuck. Sorry Duke I must’ve had a laughing fit. Sorry—someone should have warned you. God I’m so sorry.”

“You’re… you’re good? No Joker?” Duke moved away a bit, suddenly embarrassed by his reaction.

“No Joker. Sorry, this happens sometimes. Holdover from… well a bad run in with Joker when I was Robin. It um… was pretty messy.”

The explanation given after is… condensed, Duke suspects. Tim apologizes, knowing Duke’s own history with the joker. Duke tries to insist that’s bull, that he shouldn’t have to apologize for not telling him, but Tim gives a tight smile that says he doesn’t believe that.

Duke doesn’t push it. He’s not Dick, he doesn’t know how to make things like that better. After that night though, their dynamic seems to shift a bit.

Duke knows Tim is older than him, but that doesn’t matter. Whenever something Joker related comes up, Duke immediately volunteers himself to deal with it, no matter if it’s during the day or not. Duke is always happy to give a second pair of eyes to a case,

And secretly, while he likes making Tim (and everyone else) laugh, there’s something relieving when the laughter fades out and it stops. The pained smile on his mother’s face nowhere to be found.

For Tim’s credit, JJ hardly ever makes an appearance. Years on consistent therapy have helped. But healing is not a cure.

It’s after an all-hands-on-deck type mission that it happens. A laughing fit so hard the entire family wasn’t sure what to do. Tim JJ couldn’t stop. He couldn’t stop.

He laughs, stumbling through the manor, a concerned Wayne family following after. He smiles so hard, so painfully, clutching his stomach for air.

He wouldn’t stop, and eventually the hysterics laughter turned to choking as he laughed so hard he couldn’t breathe.

Duke holds him down while Dick runs and grabs a sedative.

Later, Dick would remark how bad it was. The worst he’d seen in years. But the episode ends, and the sedatives wear off, and Tim manages to slip out of the medbay without anyone realizing. Anyone except Duke, who immediately looks for him, and finds him on the roof.

“Hey man.”

“Hey Duke.” Tim responds, voice raspy from overuse.

“Doing alright?”

They talk for a bit. Voices hushed. Duke tries not to joke, knowing there’s been enough laughter for one night.

Eventually, Tim’s worries come out.

“I don’t want to be a pity case. I’m know I’m not delicate, that I’m not going to break. I just…” Tim pauses, “slip sometimes. And sometimes it scares me.”

And Duke turns his head to look out at the city. “You know, Tim, you give me hope.”

Tim lifts his head to give Duke a confused look.

“Hope for my parents. That maybe they might… get better. Even if some of it’s still there. I know I probably won’t ever get to see them normal again, but… it’s nice to have hope.”

Joker Junior Prompt

==================================

HEAR ME OUT- GUYS SIT YOUR ASSES DOWN AND LISTEN TO MY ANGST PROMPT:

So we all know the Joker has been a pain in the ass for everyone, yadda yadda, backstory stuff, boo hoo crying and shit.

This usually leads to great angsty fics revolving around Jason and/or Tim. Usually having the best angst covering Joker Junior and stuff. I’ve seen the headcannons, cried at the fics, great stuff.

BUT, but- no guys, hear me out, consider this. During one of Tim’s episodes -I was thinking this is years after, already going through his Red Robin character growth- it triggers after a long, long, time. How it started is up to your interpretation. But, instead of Jason being the first one to find him during his episode, no, it’s Duke Thomas.

THINK ABOUT IT!! Guys, the man already witnessed his parents go mad from Joker Venom, can you imagine how he’d react seeing someone else he considers his family show signs of being Jokerized!? THE POTENTIAL!!

And like, of course he’s not going to know about the JJ stuff and already assume the worst. Other members can get involved too, but image the scare Duke -alone- would have upon first witnessing Tim’s episode!

—

This may also be me trying to include Duke into more batfam fics, but hey, that man deserves more love and attention, even if it means dragging him through some more angst- get off my back!!