Hello World!

the identity porn potential of Ollie and Bruce both knowing each other’s identities but not revealing that to the Justice League is SO funny to me, like you’ve got Ollie at a Founders’ meeting kicking his feet back like “oh we need someone to infiltrate the event and sleep with both married targets? B, you’re a shoo-in” and everyone laughs thinking it’s a stupid joke because yeah, Batman’s gonna honeytrap both targets?

meanwhile, Bruce leans back in his chair and the corner of his lip curls just enough for Ollie to get the unspoken “let’s not start on breaking up marriages, hm?” his friend is so clearly thinking at him.

something something Jason Todd not realizing how much Bruce was actively keeping his body language neutral and his stature non-threatening until he himself got dunked in the Lazarus Pit and came out just as massive and had to figure out the hard way that he and Bruce can’t just cross their arms or stand at their full heights without scaring civilians

Detective Comics #1094 - "Mercy of the Father V" (2025)

Bruce Wayne is such a funny example of maturing because he'll get the whole "boys will be boys" speech from someone who doesn't know his secret identity and they'll say something like "well I'm sure you were doing something equally stupid at 24" and it's a horrible example because at 24 Bruce was basically on his hands and knees begging the head of a terrorist organization to give him a TBI (AKA LoA training) and teach him how to do a triple backflip without making a sound and also how to torture someone without leaving a mark, so really his benchmark for 24 is wildly, wildly skewed.

this is a tsunami shot btw

Diana teases Clark about his choice of disguise. She's a goof ball and I'm tired of so many adaptions ignoring this.

I think I’ve figured out my favorite chemistry for the DC Trinity, as follows:

Superman and Wonder Woman are the kind of friends who treat each other like siblings, but they 100% mean it. They laugh, they hug, they get at least one meal together every week, they occasionally finish each other’s sentences, and when they’re in the same room you can tell they genuinely like each other. They know each other like siblings, too - one won’t know every detail about the other, but they can pull out years-old esoteric stories that no one else had any idea even happened, and they each have a keen sense of who the other is deep down. Clark and Diana know each other’s dreams, fears, and morals, and that trust is visible. The only thing that tells you they’re not actually related is that when they disagree, they argue like well-adjusted adults, without any psychological manipulation or maiming. Sparring is a bonding activity for them, not a way to express anger.

Wonder Woman and Batman have a bond that is entirely platonic but mind-bogglingly deep. They should have the kind of relationship where it’s perfectly normal for them to shower together after a mission and discuss what the Justice League’s next steps should be, but if you point out that it’s kind of weird for them to share a showerhead and a shampoo bottle they’ll act like you’re weird for pointing it out. Bruce is washing blood and concrete dust out of Diana’s hair. There are no sexual or romantic vibes whatsoever. They’re at a level where it’s almost like they’re two halves of the same mind, like if they got into some crazy magic mishap where they were sharing a body it would move like a well-oiled machine. Even when they disagree or argue it seems like a single entity having an internal battle. They have crazy trust, like knowing-every-corner-of-the-other’s-brain trust, to the point that the greatest way to show their affection to each other is allowing each other their secrets. Bruce doesn’t pry past Diana’s hard lines and she knows when to stop pushing him, and those boundaries are honored because literally all the others are gone.

Batman and Superman, however, have inexplicable vibes. At a glance they act like coworkers, or like good friends, but if you look longer than thirty seconds there’s something between them that’s tangible enough to cut - it’s also weirdly horny and literally no one else wants to get involved with it. You could walk into a room where Clark was making coffee and Bruce was doing paperwork and they weren’t talking to or looking at each other and you would feel like you were intruding on their marriage bed. They keep up the same level of professionalism with each other that they do with the rest of the Justice League but they might as well not fucking bother, because somehow it still seems like they’re incapable of not broadcasting that they want each other carnally. They also have a deep level of trust, but it’s not familial or platonic. It’s more like the kind you have with someone you’re so deeply in love with that you can’t fathom not sharing your entire self with them. The world could end in burning flames and they’d survive it without going insane as long as they had each other. No one is actually sure if they’ve ever acted on these feelings, or if they’re even aware that they have them.

All three of them would burn the world down for each other, obviously, so it’s a damn good thing they’re saving it instead.

The Trinity probably hands off requests to each other when they're tired or when they want to be amused by seeing the others tackle the issue like: Superman: "Have you asked Batman yet?" -> Batman: "You should check with Wonder Woman." -> Wonder Woman: "Superman would know the answer, don't leave until you get it."

but actually the idea of Gotham being eldritch-y or like American Gods where belief/fear/prayers = power means there’s a world where Bruce came home from one of his first successful weeks of patrol high as balls literally stumbling all over the Manor with a concerned Alfred trailing behind him because Gotham’s fear and belief in the Bat is so unexpected and heady that it takes him — even someone as superhuman as him — time to adjust.

…which also means there’s a world where that same Bruce gets to watch every new Robin “get” it as they come home to the Manor after their first patrol. he gets to see Dick’s confusion morph into wonder and into something ageless, leaking out at the edges of his mask. he gets to hear Jason’s choked-off breath as Gotham’s love for Robin hits him the first time.

Considering how instrumental The Sandman was and still is to DC's cosmic-level worldbuilding and that it contains a lot of the same ideas as American Gods (being written by the same guy and predating it by more than a decade) I'd say that this is... kind of canon? Amassing enough collective belief in the DC universe can utterly alter the entire fabric of reality overnight in such a way that no one can even remember that it was ever anything different. It's a partial explanation for gods and superheroes both. Hope and fear are particularly potent forms of belief, and Batman making himself a symbol of both that's known the world over has demonstrably caused the multiverse to start warping around him.

Like fandom makes "Batgod" jokes and all but it's kind of just literally true, he's turned himself into a figure of myth and legend with the power of belief. Accidentally.

if I was Hal Jordan I would forever be shitting my pants around Bruce and Clark after learning that if they wanted, they could simply combine their thoughts and will away the Green Lantern ring from me. sure, maybe it was because of the mind control, but could you ever fully relax again after that moment, knowing that if they just willed it enough, your power was theirs?