This is probably a hot take but I don't think anybody actually cares who Batman is outside of the GCPD and conspiracy theorists.
When Batman first shows up he's a friggen poltergeist. He's a cryptid. For a second there maybe people thought he was just a creepypasta.
Then when people start to think… actually it kinda seems like he's a guy…? Like, he's a real…? Person…???
Then the GCPD is like, 'Okay, well, then he's breaking laws.'
But your average schmo is like, 'And? Yeah he's a guy; he gave me fifty bucks to get home last night. Right after he saved me from an acid piranha pit.'
But the thing is, Bats has his own personality. He's a whole person as the mask. People don't ask who Superman's secret identity is because, as far as they're concerned, Superman is just Superman, and when they can't see him, it's because he went home. It would be the same with Batman. They probably think he sleeps or hangs upside-down all day.
I think Gothamites like him as Just Batman; he's the city's pet monster, and they like it that way.
I think we get super caught up in the, "Batman's secret identity might be revealed! 😱" because Batman's secret identity is famous. But if someone unmasked Clark or Barry or Hal it would be like
"…I have no idea who this is."
And they expect the same of Batman.
GCPD wants to know so they can arrest him, conspiracy theorists want to know because they wanna know where he fits into the machine, gossip columnists want to know so they can get catch some drama, and real-person fanfic authors wanna know so they can accurately describe him when he takes his mask off to kiss Bruce Wayne.
permit office: sending one of their own men to exile to cause chaos and unrest in an attempt to justify the existence of the permit office and the poepoe
cleo: riding a horse for 4 days straight on the nether roof to quit exile out of pure spite
doc and xisuma: traveling to and from exile to sell things/help the exiled hermits
the rest of the server: hiding their beds, creating bunkers, doing their best to not get exiled
meanwhile, mumbo: fan go whirrrrrrrrr
When the League meets Baby Robin(Dick), they are genuinely surprised, as it seems impossible that Batman is raising this little ray of sunshine who appeared from between his cape and then proceeded to greet them with the brightest smile they've all ever seen, completely adoring Superman, saying how great Wonder Woman is, and actually laughing at Barry's jokes.
Bruce takes care of his work, but occasionally stops to, in fact, help Robin who is trying to do his English homework. The other members also help out, of course.
So, Hal arrives at the Watchtower, and Robin, seeing the man his dad mentor has been so grumpy about because of the last meeting they had (Hal doesn't understand that Batman is the best at his job and is the one giving directions for a reason, duh!), decides he will exact revenge.
He carries on a normal conversation with the man just as he did with everyone else, subtly leading the topic until Hal falls into the trap:
Hal: What about your mom? I can't imagine anyone putting up with the old bat.
He speaks with all mockery, but then his smile freezes when he sees the tremor in the little boy's shoulders.
Dick: *shuddering and holding back a little sob* my mummy died in front of me a few months ago.... I...
Hal is pale now, because the child actually sobs, and runs off to hide in the cape of Batman, who was now standing, ready to stitch up his child.
He's not the only one, Superman and the others are already there too, looking at him angrily because he made the little bean cry.
Hal is in a panic.
And if he sees how the boy smiles at him when no one is looking, sticking his tongue out at him while moving his lips to send him the message "Don't bother my dad", no one would ever believe him, not while the little boy is now clinging to Batman tightly as he slowly blinks away tears that not even the best actors could ever pull off.
Only Hal knows the devil behind that angel face.
Batman knows it too, but he adores his precious little demon.
"save me, substance abuse!" i cry. before you can moralize to me about the dangers of addiction, a noble and powerful steed gallops into the room - my horse whom i have named "substance abuse". you learn an important lesson about making assumptions. i snort a line off its back
after patrolling, unwinding in a diner somewhere ...
throw the man a bone batman geez
minimum wage needs to be $1000 an hour. rent needs to be $10. groceries need to be $2 total. and i need a back massage that ends in me getting my back blown the Hell out
that pistachio completely sealed in its shell is scared and alone, like a miner trapped by rubble. you need to free it by any means necessary. get the gun from your dad's cabinet
Batman pulls out a long pointer and emphatically slaps it onto a projection screen currently displaying a slide which states, in jagged white letters, YOU WOULDN’T EMBEZZLE A BATMOBILE
i feel like the entire batfam has some form of bpd tbh
Hii pls don't feel pressured to answer this but I really enjoy your Jason mental health meta posts and I was wondering, do you think jaybin has BPD? I've been told my writing of him is relatable to folks with BPD and I wanted to figure out why lol!
Oh boy I love love this question, and I'm glad you're enjoying my posts!!
I'll talk about it later in the "BPD, PTSD, CPTSD and trauma" chapter of the meta but for now short answer is "yeah, Jason 100% has BPD, but only insofar as I agree with the BPD diagnosis. (To be very clear: BPD symptomatology 100% exists, and people with BPD's experience and clinical pathology is valid and must be taken seriously. However, there's a lot of debate amongst clinicians in the way we characterize personality disorders, and especially when it comes to the difference between BPD and CPTSD. So basically, "should we consider that BPD and CPTSD are two different disorders or are BPD symptoms just a form through which CPTSD expresses itself -which is made especially complex by the fact the CPTSD diagnosis exists in some common classifications (I think CIM-11 includes it) but not in others (the DSM-5 for example doesn't yet include it). It's a whole mess, and I'm very excited to see how it pans out. One interesting way to think about it: you asked "do you think Jaybin has BPD?" And well, he shouldn't be able to get a personality disorder diagnosis as Jaybin because he's 12 to 15 years old, and you're not supposed to diagnose personality disorders before adulthood (until personality is considered to be "fully formed"). So it wouldn't make much sense to say Jason has BPD imo on that front (though some clinicians sometimes do diagnose teenagers with it in some cases); however, you could definitely say he has CPTSD.
For the time being, @dukeofthomas shared an awesome meta about Jason and BPD!! I'll share my own point by point analysis of his symptoms in that part of the meta because some stuff of our conception of Jason diverges and also just because putting fictional characters through the dsm checklist absolutely rules, but their analysis and the way they explain stuff is a really really good read!!!
@carmineskiesandspidereyes you should also have fun with this one!