Batfamily

The Batfamily is the informal name fandom uses for Bruce "Batman" Wayne and his allies and supporting characters. It includes those who appear regularly in Batman comics such as: Detective Comics, Batman, Batman Confidential (2007-2011), Batman Family (Vol. 1 1975–1978, Vol. 2 2002), Legends of the Dark Knight (1989-2007), Shadow of the Bat (1992-2000), Batman Chronicles (1995-2001), Gotham Knights (2000-2006), and various mini-series.
There are also characters in the Batfamily who appear in the books of associated characters (e.g., Nightwing, Batgirl, Robin, Birds of Prey, Azrael, Catwoman, Batwoman, various Huntress minis—as well as series about the Gotham City Police Department, like Gotham Central), and relevant adaptations of these media. Often these characters are closely associated with Batman, were trained by him, or are members of his adopted family. Batfamily encompasses a large section of the greater DCU fandom.
Many fans enjoy exploring the possible dynamics among the various members of the Batfamily, and the fandom has developed its own distinctive tropes and fanon characterisations. Batfamily fandom has attracted a number of second-degree fans who are more familiar with - and interested in - fanon than canon. The tendency of fans to characterise the Batfamily as a tightly knit domestic unit has attracted criticism from some fans who consider it to be OOC, while others have pushed back against the tendency to privilege fanon characterisation over faithfulness to canon. However, still other fans argue that this is in keeping with the varying nature of canon, where characterisation is not necessarily static to begin with.
==The Family==
===Definition===
Batfamily can broadly refer to the group of costumed vigilantes and other allies associated with Batman and operating in Gotham City; Barbara Gordon (Batgirl and then Oracle), Luke Fox (Batwing), and Jean-Paul Valley (Azrael) are sometimes considered members of the Batfamily.
Many use the Batfamily designation to specifically refer to those who are both part of the Batman business and Bruce Wayne's personal family unit; Bruce's adoptive and biological children, and his butler, Alfred Pennyworth, are some members of the Batfamily. Family members who aren't associated with the Batman business—such as Aunt Agatha and Bruce's deceased parents—are part of the Wayne family, but not the Batfamily.
The term is also used to differentiate between the greater DC Comics or team-focused fandom, and the fandom specifically focused on Batman and related characters. (See also Family vs. Team)
All Batfamily fandoms are Batman media fandoms, but not all Batman media fandoms are considered Batfamily fandoms. The Nolanverse, for example, is generally not labelled as a Batfamily fandom, due to Batman lacking vigilante partners and a cast of family members.
===Members===
:See also :Category:Batman Characters.
Most notably the "family" consists of Bruce Wayne (sometimes known by fan nickname "Batdad"), the children he took in and trained as Robin, Cassandra Cain, his butler Alfred Pennyworth, and his dog, but also includes Batman-inspired heroes like Batgirl and the Gotham-based team Birds of Prey.
Current and former protégés:
The Batman's child protégés, trained by him when they were still minors, are often known under the fanon term Batkids. "Batkids" may also be used specifically to refer to Bruce's adopted and biological children.
* Dick Grayson (Robin, Nightwing, "DickBats" Batman)
* Barbara Gordon (Batgirl, Oracle)
* Helena Wayne (Huntress of Earth-2)
* Jason Todd (Robin II, Red Hood)
* Carrie Kelley (Robin III - The Dark Knight Returns)
* Tim Drake (Robin III, Red Robin II, Drake)
* Stephanie Brown (Spoiler, Robin IV, Batgirl)
* Terry McGinnis (Batman II - Batman Beyond)
* Cassandra Cain (Batgirl, Black Bat, Orphan II)
* Damian Wayne (Robin V)
* Duke Thomas (Lark, The Signal)
Associates and allies:
* Selina Kyle (Catwoman)
* Katherine "Kathy" Kane (pre-Crisis Batwoman)
* Talia al Ghul (usually associated with the enemy faction)
* Lucius Fox and his children
* Helena Bertinelli (Huntress)
* Jean-Paul Valley (Azrael, "AzBats" Batman)
* Michael Lane (Azrael II)
* Katherine Rebecca "Kate" Kane (Batwoman)
* Bette Kane (pre-Crisis Bat-Girl, Flamebird, Hawkfire)
* David Zavimbe (Batwing)
* Luke Fox (Batwing)
* Calvin Rose (Talon)
* Basil Karlo (Clayface)
* Harley Quinn
Associated teams:
* Birds of Prey
* The Outsiders
* Justice League
* Young Justice
* Teen Titans
For a more complete list check out Wikipedia's article.
==Overview==
Some would say that the Batfamily started in 1940, when Bruce "Batman" Wayne was joined by the original Robin, the Boy Wonder Dick Grayson, an orphan whom Bruce took in as his legal ward.
Others define the Batfamily as something larger and more complex than the classic Batman-and-Robin duo. The pre-Crisis comic book anthology series Batman Family ran from 1975 to 1978, primarily featuring stories starring Batman's supporting cast, including Alfred Pennyworth, Vicki Vale, the Elongated Man, the Huntress (Helena Wayne of Earth-2), Bat-Girl, Batwoman (Katherine "Kathy" Kane), Batgirl (Barbara Gordon), and Ace the Bat-Hound.
Many fans point to the Chuck Dixon era in the 1990s as the formation of the modern Batfamily concept,Jan 5 2019 Tumblr post with Batman and Robin (Tim Drake) being joined by Nightwing (Dick Grayson), Azrael (Jean-Paul Valley), Spoiler (Stephanie Brown), the Birds of Prey, Batgirl (Cassandra Cain), and others on a permanent or semi-permanent basis. This incarnation of the Batfamily was popular within the comics fandom on LiveJournal, with meta and transformative fanworks largely revolving around Dick Grayson and Tim Drake.meta on LiveJournal-era fanon Tim Drake by angel-gidget (25 Jul 2017)
With the near back-to-back introductions of the long-lost Jason Todd (as the Red Hood) and then Bruce Wayne's newly discovered biological son Damian Wayne in 2005–2006, and the adoption of the freshly orphaned Tim Drake, the focus of the Batfamily fandom eventually shifted to Batman and his four sons, especially after the release of the 2010 Under the Red Hood animated movie (starring fan favorite actor Jensen Ackles as the voice of the Red Hood) piqued the interest of a fresh audience beyond established comics readers. As participation in Web 2.0 became more mainstream, social media platforms and fan wikis provided fertile grounds for second-degree fandom and kittyfic, making Batfamily content creation and consumption accessible to non-comics fans. Thus the "Batman and sons" version of the Batfamily became popular on DeviantArt, FanFiction.Net, Tumblr, and Archive of Our Own (AO3).
While Batfamily fan presence has remained relatively strong on those sites, the contemporary 2020s fandom has largely shifted to AO3, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. Fandom has trended toward being more inclusive of Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain since their returns to comics following their initial absence in the New 52 reboot, as well as the new character Duke Thomas who debuted in 2013 and more officially joined Batman's supporting cast as the vigilante known as the Signal in 2018. However, the post-Crisis continuity (1986-2011) mostly continues to be the fan community's favored canon as of 2022.
DC Comics has capitalized on Batfamily enthusiasm by publishing slice of life fanservice content such as Batman: Li'l Gotham (2013) and Batman: Wayne Family Adventures (2021).
==Meta and Fanon==
===Continuity===
As of the present and at least since the dawn of Internet-based fandom, the Post-Crisis continuity (established by the 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths event), has been the favored canon lore near-universally in the Batfamily fandom, and in the broader DC Comics fandom. Some elements introduced since the 2011 New 52 continuity reboot—such as the Court of Owls, and Jason Todd's improved relationship with the Batfamily—have been embraced in fan meta and fan works, but most outright retcons to Post-Crisis have been ignored. For example, in many fan works Barbara most often remains as Oracle and as a wheelchair-user rather than reverting to her Batgirl role.
====Batkids====
Depending on the current canon and fanon, different sources and fans have different ideas of which characters should count as Bruce Wayne's immediate family unit, and which should count as close family friends (such as Stephanie Brown). For example, around the era of the New 52, Damian Wayne was often emphasized as Bruce's only "real" child, while Cassandra Cain hardly appeared, and Tim Drake's parents were still alive. There has been confusion as to whether Duke Thomas is a member of the Wayne household in the main continuity,7 Mar 2021 tumblr post as Bruce offered to foster Duke, but Duke's cousin ultimately became his legal guardian while Duke's still-living parents are institutionalized for Joker toxicity.
As of the present and the Infinite Frontier continuity, the prevailing opinion of the Batfamily fandom is that, in the mainline comics, Bruce Wayne is officially the parent of:
* Dick Grayson (adopted son)
* Cassandra Cain (adopted daughter)
* Jason Todd (adopted son)
* Tim Drake (adopted son)
* Damian Wayne (biological son)
These characters may be known as the Batsiblings or Batsibs.
Tumblr also created a fanon additional child for the Batfamily, Brad Wayne, who is headcanoned as an illegitimate son of Bruce's who is almost aggressively normal (and oblivious to all things superhero), providing an amusing contrast to the rest of the Batkids. Many headcanons have been created imagining how he might interact with other members of the Batfamily, as well as other DC characters.
===Relationships and dynamics===
:See also :Category:Batman Relationships.
Batfamily fan works often focus on slice of life and domestic shenanigans.
Batcest refers to pairings between two or more family members of Bruce Wayne—including Bruce Wayne himself, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Cassandra Cain, and Damian Wayne—regardless of blood relationship.Others such as Helena Wayne, Kate Kane, Duke Thomas, Mar'i Grayson, and Jake Grayson may be included as well. Robincest specifically refers to pairings between the four former and current Robin brothers, sans Stephanie Brown. Though Barbara and Stephanie are included under the banner of the Batfamily, they are not officially Wayne children, and so pairings such as DickBabs, TimSteph, and StephCass are essentially never labelled incest. Some Batcest pairings have popular followings, but many Batfamily fans oppose and avoid any and all Batcest pairings.
===Common tropes in fan works===
* Personal quirks: Certain Batfamily characters are given specific fanon-created quirks, examples being: Dick is a cereal-powered hug-maniac. Tim is a depressed insomniac addicted to coffee and psychologically scarred by his very comfortable childhood. Stephanie likes waffles and the color purple. Cass is a sweet and accommodating emotional support Asian.
* Meet the Batfamily: Often Outsider POV fics in which some party is surprised to find that rich bachelor Bruce Wayne, or the brooding Batman, is a dedicated father with a bunch of rowdy children.
*Celebrity Waynes: The Batfamily members cultivate their public personas.
**Social Media AU
**Gala fic: The Batfamily attends a fancy party.
* Under the influence: characters being drugged, or acting uncharacteristically because of elements outside their control
**Scarecrow's Fear Toxin
**Posion Ivy's Pollen
**Other substances include new substances that may be derived from fear toxin and/or pollen, and other genre-typical concoctions such as truth serum
*Dimensional travel between alternate universes, or intra-multiversal crossovers (Earth-3, the Young Justice animated series, Arkhamverse, etc.)
* Time Travel: used in time travel fix-it fics, often used to prevent a character death or something terrible from occurring in Gotham
* Reverse Robins: is an Reverse Age AU role reversal in which the order of the Robins is changed, often resulting in the family dynamic changing as well
* Dark AUs: sometimes exploring the canonical Earth-3, or fan-created Mirror Universes or Crime AUs
*Malone Family
*Nicknames
**Batkid Nicknames Powerpoint by sohotthateveryonedied
**What do the Bats call each other? by bitimdrake
**nicknames for the Batboys by cornflakepizza
* Crossovers: In addition to the usual shared universe crossovers featuring the extended Batfamily and the broader DC Multiverse, certain other fandoms have a notable crossover presence:
** Miraculous Ladybug - Maribat, often involving a somewhat crack and somewhat serious ship between Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Damian Wayne
** White Collar (see: White Collar × DC) - The dark-haired, blue-eyed Neal Caffrey is revealed to be one of the Bats in disguise, usually one of the three eldest "Batbros".
*** Cowardly and Superstitious Lots: A Statistical Analysis of White Collar and Batman Crossover Fics on AO3archived
** My Hero Academia, in which Midoriya Izuku is Robin (sometimes specifically Dick Grayson), which has a canonical tag on AO3
** Many crossovers feature Batman adopting children/young people from other fandoms, some notable examples being:
*** Danny Phantom (see: DP × DC)
*** Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender, which is the subject of a popular Tumblr post
*** Harry Potter (which may overlap with other AUs in which the Batfamily attend Hogwarts)
*** Marinette Dupain-Cheng, often as part of the setup for Maribat
*** Peter Parker
==Fan Viewpoints==
===(Not) One Big Happy Family===
Many Batfamily fan works take place in a standard nebulous continuity in which the entire Wayne household is already comfortably established as one big happy family, without delving into how they came to be that way in the first place. (Comparisons may be drawn to the established Domestic Avengers teamfics popular in the Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom.) While certain pairs of characters have familial relationships with each other, many fans feel that the canonical "Batfamily", as a whole, lacks a collective family dynamic.
===Too Many Bats in the Cave===
Some complain that the Batfamily cast has become too bloated, redundant, and unbalanced.
===Second-Degree Fandom and Prevalent Fanon===
There exists some tension between comics fans, fans of media adaptations (such as the Arkhamverse and Young Justice the animated series), and "second-degree" fans who are familiar with Batman mythos exclusively through fan content and broad strokes pop culture osmosis. The lack of familiarity with the source canon has contributed to the rise of extensive and prevalent fanon, to the point that some fans even confuse popular fanon as outright canon. Some enjoy fanon, while others raise concerns that fanon distorts fans' understanding and appreciation of the canon lore, and makes canon-faithful fan activity difficult to find. 
Some second-degree fans argue that obstacles prevent them from accessing canon materials. These obstacles include: confusion over where to begin reading (e.g. 1985 post-Crisis vs 2011 New 52 vs 2016 DC Rebirth continuities), lack of funds to purchase comics, and sheer intimidation by the massive volume of over 80 years of Batman content that varies in quality and tone. Comics fans point out that there are many ways to access Batman publications and media: in-person and online shopping, physical anthologies at public libraries, digital editions available for free through library-partnered services such as Hoopla, as well as online piracy. Some comics fans have created resource guides for writing canon-compliant characterizations, posts attempting to clarify what is fanon and what is canon, and rec lists for newbies interested in finding a starting place to read comics. It must be noted that even these guides are often somewhat influenced by their creators' own subjective biases. Although well-intentioned, these resources could also feel like a form of gatekeeping to second-degree fans.
Other second-degree fans proudly declare that fan works are their preferred source of Batfamily content, even preferring fanon to canon. As of this writing, many of the most popular and kudos'd Batfamily works on Archive of Our Own (AO3) are made by openly non-comic-reading fans, such as envysparkler.
The official spin-off webcomic Batman: Wayne Family Adventures (2021)—advertised as not requiring prior knowledge of Batman lore, and incorporating popular fanon such as Tim's coffee addiction—quickly and successfully amassed a large readership, raising concerns among some fans that popular ooc fanon could leak into official DC Comics publications.
See also:
* Re: "What are in your opinion the biggest difference between the comic and the fanon versions of the other Batfamily members?"Archived from the original by theflyingwonder
* Re: "Have you ever done a canon vs fanon post for the batfam? you're very insightful and I would love to see your take on it."Archived from the original by bat-lings
* Fanon vs canon by bitimdrake
* These are some facts that are easy to miss if you mostly read fanfiction instead of 20 year old comics. (Slightly Tim-centric, of course.) by kiragecko
* I think it’s fair to say that almost all fan-canons like that will fall somewhere between “a little ooc” and “very ooc”... and Re: "How do fandom tropes compare to actual canon characterization for the robins " and This is why we have the distinction between Fanon and Canon characters: because they are, in fact, two completely separate characters. by thebatmanfiles
* Something to keep in mind with a lot of fandom or fic critical stuff... by bigskydreaming
* I have many thoughts on the weird phenomena in the DC fandom and the Batfam fandom specifically where probably the majority of people just straight up. haven’t interacted with the source material. by autisticcassandracain
* an introduction to the fanon batfamily by outoftheframework
* uQuiz: which poorly characterized fanon version of a batfam character are you? by hedgebitch
* Canon vs. Fanon by red-jayson
* The way tumblr depicts the Batfamily and how wrong it is. by nanamadama
* As someone who has read comics from the 1930s to today by rainbow820
==="Batbros" and Exclusion===
The four "Batboys"—Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, and Damian Wayne—have been the most popular characters in the Batfamily fandom since at least the 2010s, on platforms such as Archive of Our Own (AO3), Tumblr, Twitter, Wattpad, and more; previously, Dick Grayson and Tim Drake were the darlings of the Batfamily fandom on LiveJournal and FanFiction.Net. Batbros stories are also popular for fics featuring original characters (OCs) or self-inserts, with each Batboy bringing some unique persona to the table as a love interest or bromantic foils, not unlike Boy Band Archetypes or otome dating sims. The Batbros fandom could be considered an estrogen brigade.
Batbros-centric fandom has been criticized for not featuring the complete Batfamily, excluding female characters and ethnic diversity. Others point out that each of the four Batbros are prominently featured characters, appearing often in notable roles in high-profile comics and media adaptations, while characters such as Cassandra and Stephanie have not been nearly as heavily featured, contributing to the discrepancy in audience exposure to the characters and the characters' resultant popularity.
==Fan works==
===Meta===
* Guide to the BatfamArchived from the original by comic-commentary (2016)
* justiceleaque’s Batman Reading Guide (Alternate Title: Oh Boy) by justiceleaque
* Masterlist of Comic Knowledge PostsArchived by sohotthateveryonedied
** if i did have to list the batkids from who swears the least to the most in both quantity and severity i’d say it goes cass, tim, dick, steph, jason, damian, duke
* Batfamily Fandom Survey Results by danseru-kunArchived from the original (2014)
* swearing Feb 24, 2017 tumblr post about swearing in the comics by oh-mother-of-darkness et al. + jason todd vs dick grayson + swearing by theflyingwonder
* I think the point that invariably goes missing whenever we get too far into character discourse in fandom is - characters aren’t static. by spite-and-waffles
* I’ve been in the Bat-fandom for a decade now. And there have been a lot of fights about representation. by kiragecko
===Timelines===
* Timeline: Batman by CrimeAlley1048
* Modern Age Timeline [Google Docs] by samiralula01
* Post-Crisis Batfamily timeline, Post-Crisis Batkid Canon Ages/Age Differences, and First pass at a timeline of New 52 Batfamily backstory and ages by bitimdrake
* DC Timeline Powerpoint by sohotthateveryonedied
* Re: "I wish that people would remember that Jason is supposed to be a couple months younger than Cass and less than two years older than Tim" by thebatmanfiles
===Art===
* Batdad by Andry-Shango
* Hanging by a Kryptonian by *DaPandaBanda
* Batfam by ~Killinganger
* batfamily doodle by dapandabanda
* Dark KnightsArchived by CoranKizerStone (2011)
* by gicabyte
Image:2010-11-26 t1mco Batman family.jpg|Thanksgiving fan art by t1mco (2010)
Image:2011 formerlysunflorals Alfred Batman Batgirls Robins.jpg| by formerlysunflorals (2011)
Image:2013-12-07 angergirl Baby Batkids wearing sweaters.jpg|Baby Batkids wearing sweaters. by angergirl (2013)
Image:2021-01-21 itsmespicaa The Wayne Family ft Tired single dad Bruce.png| by itsmespicaa (2021)
===Fics===
:For a full listing of Batman fan fiction articles on Fanlore, see :Category:Batman Fanfiction
* The Batfam Fanfic Survey 
* "Family Game Night"Archived by quipquipquip - A ficlet in which the Batfamily plays Monopoly. Inspired the fan art Batnopoly by gabzillaz.
* "The Strays Verse" by blackash26 - A verse in which Young Justice (TV series) Bruce adopts all the bat kids much earlier.
*heget’s Batfam Rec ListArchived from the original (2017)
*batfamily fic recs that aren’t just the same 5 white or whitewashed guys by latinotimdrake (2023)
===Zines===
* Ephemeron: a Batfamily Zine (2017)
* GOTHAM BOLD: A Batfamily Fashion Zine (March 2019)
* Bats & Birds: A Batfam Zine (May 2019)
* Holy Coloring Zine, Batman! (Feb 2020)
* Of Bats and Beasts (May 2020)
* Cancel Me, Daddy! (May 2021)
* Any Which Way: A Batfam AU Zine (2023)
* Gotham Horror (2024)
===Memes===
* Stan dissing - Part 2 by jasontoddsguns
* by runewoa
* likes to eat...... ? by Beckx
===Other===
* Batgirl Inc
* uQuiz: which Batfamily member do you toxically stan?
* uQuiz: Which Batfam Character Are You? But All Of The Answers Are Bad
==Archives and Links==
:For individual fandoms/characters/ships, please check out their pages.
* FanFiction.Net (FFN):The Batfamily
* DeviantArt: Bat-Family, theBatmanFamily
* Archive of Our Own (AO3): Batfamily (DCU)
* LiveJournal (LJ): See more at :Category:Batman Communities.
* Batman section of Twisting the Hellmouth, crossovers with Buffyverse
* Fanworks tagged Batfamily on DeviantArt
* Posts tagged as #Batfamily on Tumblr
* Story search for #batfamily on Wattpad
* Knight List Description: "A list for fanfiction about Gotham's Dark Knight and his supporting characters. This group does not archive its messages."
===Other fan sites===
* 
* 
===Challenges===
* Batfam Exchange, the Batfam Christmas Exchange
* Batfam Content War
* Batfam Big Bang
* Batfam Week
==Wiki pages==
* Wikipedia
* Batman Family at Batman Wikia
==Notes==
==References==
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