Watching this movie right now, and…was this actually a thing? Did they seriously try to pair Bruce Wayne, a man in his mid to late 30s, with a college student presumably just barely over the side of legal that he was also mentoring??
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That’s Bruce Timm for you.
Honestly, it’s not even the age difference that makes it weird so much as the teacher-student vibe. Plus, they have zero chemistry and Babs so does not need Bruce’s edgelordy nonsense in her life any more than it already is.
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There was an episode of TAS where Babs dreamed she, as Batgirl, saved Bats from some of his foes, then woke up before they made out. But anything beyond that, was first hinted at in an episode of Batman Beyond, but never really shown or elaborated upon during the New Gotham Adventures. Batman Beyond 2.0/Unlimited comics delved into their relationship a bit more. I never really saw them as a couple making sense, either. This is why fan shipping should say in fan fiction and out of official works.
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Well it was Babs who initiated. And as the saying goes, sometimes is just sex & not a relationship (or shipping). They are both over 18. They wanna screw, more power to ‘em.
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I’ve basically already talked about this, but I’m really not into the Bruce/Babs ship. The age difference, in addition to the teacher/student relationship just makes the whole thing… messy at best and downright creepy at worst.
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Yeah, that wasn’t in the comics. For some reason the DCAU went from Dick and Babs dating to Bruce and Barbara having sex on a rooftop followed by a miscarriage. To be fair, I believe such developments were/are limited to The Killing Joke movie and Batman Beyond. The idea of a Bruce and Barbara romance just gives me the heebie jeebies.
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She’s the daughter of one of his best friends and she used to date his, basically, adopted son. That. Is. Creepy!
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When Batman '66 producer William Dozier added Barbara to the cast in the third season, there was a whole lot of flirting going on between Babs and Bruce (and Batgirl and Batman). Maybe in Bruce Timm’s mind, it was a natural pairing because of that show.
For me? Waaaay too creepy.
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So take away the violent aspects of HQ/Joker relationship, is that more/less/same creepy factor as Babs and Bruce being an FWB?
The age difference and mentor aspect is very similar. Yet I hear very little about the creepiness of that portion of the HQ/Joker relationship. Why is that?
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@DeSade-acolyte The only people I knows that DON’T say the HQ/Joker relationship is creepy are weirdos on social media. Most people just don’t mention the creepiness because that the point of the relationship. It’s portrayed as creepy in almost every show/movie/comic/game it appears in. The difference is that the Bruce/Barbara relationship is portrayed as good in the Killing Joke movie. And it’s not. So people explain why it’s not.
It all comes down to portrayal. Yes HQ/Joker is creepy. But the writers are aware of that. They don’t seem to be aware that the Bruce/Barbara one is.
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I’ve never considered Joker to be Harley’s “mentor”. They’re relationship was originally based on her having a bizarre fixation and infatuation with the Joker, and ignoring much of his destructive tendencies for one reason or another. Mr. J largely used her for his own ends with little regard to her feelings, while occasionally seeing value in keeping her along and even respecting her to a degree (like when it seemed like she’d really shoot him after the fiasco with the atomic bomb in TAS). I really don’t see the two examples as all that comparable, when you look a little deeper.
Bruce Timm seems to have this thing for making every female character in DC want Bruce… Wayne. I don’t get it. It doesn’t make sense narratively. It’s also weird for everything @Aneras713 and others have said here.
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If you found out your SO was a crazy night-stalking vigilante you would probably break up with them. Not pursue them further.
Unless you too we’re a night-crawling vigilante. Relationships only benefit from shared interests right?
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True. I guess I, like the story tellers, have a very high opinion of the B-mans magnetism in that regard.
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It is creepy. And for the one iniating everything
, Babs sure goes from one relationship to another on a dime.
Batman loves Dick too much to get with Barbara.
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