burntcopper | Bats in team dynamics

This came out of reading

harriet_spy's stuff on the wrongness of Batman as a father-figure. Don't worry, not going to go into that. I agree with her on some points, don't agree on others. Anyway. This piece is on Bats in team situations.

Okay, Batman advertises himself as 'Lone Wolf. Bat. GRIM.' Which is eminently not true, since they're the most famous 'family' in the DCU - hell, all of comics-dom, pre-X-Men - and I bet you more people could go through at least three names of the Batfamily before they could X-men. The basics of the family are Batman and Robin. Then comes Batgirl, Nightwing, Huntress, Spoiler (sniffle), Alfred, Oracle and Black Canary on the edges, Catwoman occasionally, the GCPD when they're allowed, Jim Gordon before he retired, and a lot of peripheral players. Bat family is all about working within a team and having back up, which does make sense, considering they're also some of the few almost completely non-powered vigilantes out there. The other main non-powered vigilantes, the Green Arrows, also place a big thing on family, though they're less dysfunctional and emotionally constipated.

For all their non-powered and fucked-up aspect, they're also within the DCU regarded as the best. Bar none. Best detectives, best for getting you out of a situation, best fighters, best planners, etc, etc. Also the people the DCU looks to for final decision most often, which seems to set them up as 'best judge and jury' too... That and the moral conscience as well as being the most feared and acknowledged as most fucked-up. Which if you think about it says something about the human psyche, that they would invest that much respect in people they know are screwed up.

Anyway. Bats are inevitably drawn towards teams. The major ones, normally. And in there - because of the respect almost automatically accorded to them by their reputation and skills - not to mention their ability to make judgements and plans - they rise to the top to become the leaders. Teen Titans and Young Justice, Robin was first choice for leader until he intentionally stepped down, though still basically making the decisions. It's even in Teen Titans (pre-crisis) when Jason was Robin - Dick's old teammates pretty much expected him to take Dick's old place, that of guide and leader. Even though he had bugger all experience, the mantle of the Bat conferred on him the role of leader. Which is what he protested against. Tim takes up leadership automatically, but the thing is, Tim had been working as part of Batman and Robin or oftentimes just Robin for at least a year before he encountered Superboy, Impulse, or started working with Young Justice. He'd had the time to grow into the role and the expectations that came with it. It's also pretty well-known that Tim is a control freak beyond control freaks (besides being stalker boy) and Batman is training him with a view to being his successor, precisely because of that. Dick, as far as I know, basically became the de facto leader of the original Teen Titans due to him being the one who would make decisions. He'd also had some time as Robin, though nowhere near as much flying solo as Tim did.

Barbara, when she was Batgirl, did not as far as I know do much team work outside Gotham, but when she became Oracle, all-seeing information broker, she was on Suicide Squad, the JLA, and the bat team - as well as later gathering her own operatives for the Birds of Prey. In the former two, she was more of a contract worker who worked when she felt like it. In the BoP, she's an active member and arbitrator. Huntress has been in several teams, although she often doesn't play too well with others, not to mention being... well... considered too emotionally unstable to ever take up a leadership position, in direct contrast with her day job, which was to lead and teach young minds, and is, by all reports, a very good teacher and probably comes off as one of the most normal of the Bat-group in their day-to-day actions. Whereas no-one thinks Tim, Bruce or Dick is at all normal.

Gah. I'll think of some more stuff later.