It's Weird How Jason Todd Is So Frequently Assigned Insecurities That Directly Contradict The Core Of

It's weird how Jason Todd is so frequently assigned insecurities that directly contradict the core of his character.

like, in fanon AND canon.

He only makes sense as a character if he has a very strong sense-of-self and firmly believes that Bruce loved him before he died.

Because Jason came back and not only did he believe that Bruce would love him enough to kill the Joker, he was furious when he found out he didn't! His belief that the little boy he was deserved to be avenged was the driving force of his returning arc, and he believed that Bruce should have loved him enough to do it!!

Only after the completion of Under the Red Hood does self-doubt start to creep in. Not about whether the boy he was deserved love, mind you. That immutable fact sits at the heart of his character, even now.

No, what Jason begins to fear is that there is no love left in the world for the man he has become. That he burned it all up in his return, and none of that love exists for him anymore. Bruce still quietly mourning Jason's death even now that he's back only compounds this.

And it just makes him angrier, it just makes him sick and angry and more determined. It just commits him further to his cause because this PROVES the only thing he ever could depend on was his own heart. His own sense of right and wrong.

He hates Batman so much it makes his chest ache.

So really, Bruce can love and miss baby Jason all he wants, but he's not getting the actual, living Jason back until he can process that grief and love Jason for who he is now.

But Bruce can't let go of his grief because it's the retraumatization of losing his parents all over again. The complete loss of control. The inability to fix it even 30 years and a lifetime of training later. So he just shuts down. Shuts Jason out and weaves that grief into the heart of himself to drive him. And looks through him. Doesn't see him. Doesn't dare love him.

Because look what Bruce's love did to Jason last time?

L showing up at Light's school and introducing himself as Hideki Ryuga is fucking hysterical to me. imagine how every other student there must have felt. that's like if you were at college and some weird goth supergenius kid who looks like he hasn't stepped outside in 20 years showed up at your school and introduces himself as Harry Styles but not the one you're thinking of, and then he follows around some other weird supergenius kid for a week and they play the world's most homoerotic game of tennis and then they both disappear off the face of the earth forever

Not that anybody asked, but one of my favourite headcanons is that L was actually kind of a bad influence on Light. I think Light often mirrors the behaviours of people he looks up to a lot, both consciously and subconsciously. And I think he was often mirroring L's childish competitiveness and shadiness and turning everything into a game way more whenever they were together. And that then he was sort of terrified out of it and sobered into acting way more seriously again by his dad pretending to execute him at the start of the Yotsuba arc. And then Light starts mirroring Soichiro's ideals and behaviours very closely in that arc instead. Maybe just because he lost his Kira memories, but I think also because he really wants to appease his father and get back into his good graces again. And I think that Light suddenly stopping mimicking L and instead often scorning L's bad behaviour in the Yotsuba arc is a big part of the reason L gets really confused and depressed at that point. He relates way more to the mindgamey Kira Light that he half helped create and inspire than he does to the very serious and straitlaced Light that he actually ended up handcuffing himself to.

okay but jason returns from the dead feeling unwanted. he doesn’t know only four people—five if you count the preacher—came to his funeral, but it’s just the feeling of you come back to your old life thinking the world would still have a gaping hole in it where you fit, still raw and bleeding so you could slot right in. but the show’s over, the curtains are drawn, everyone exited stage left. you arrived back to this empty theater to find the props and sets all taken down, lights closed. you sit down in a seat in the front row gripping the seat handle until your knuckles are bone white, but the play is finished. you’re no longer a part of the Narrative and there is no place for you left

Look. We can all have varying headcanons regarding how frequently or for how long Mello did cocaine, but it’s undeniably canon that he ABSOLUTELY did cocaine during his time in the mafia. Maybe he only tried it once. Maybe he was snortin rails with Rod on the daily. Either way, at some point Mello was strung tf out. Once or twice? Daily? Occasionally? All up for debate. All I’m sayin is dude snorted some booger sugar and that’s canon.

I want nothing more than the taskforce to be in a situation where Light doesn't have to act like this nice kid. I want him to bitch and moan, insult everyone, just be a dick in general

His and L's arguments go to a whole other level because Light stopped pulling his punches, so L did too

He makes Matsuda cry twice a day (L was using every ounce of his will power to stifle his laughter), Soichiro ends up grounding him to hell and back but besides some choice words and a "get fucked" nothing comes out of it, and omfg Aizawa was THIS close to losing his shit

L loves Light even more afterwards because holy shit what an unpleasant little jackass, he must be L's