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DC canon is a collaborative project at best (let's not get now into what it is at worst), and while we all rage against ~fanon takes, I think there's a significant different between picking up trends and regurgitating repetitive slop that often flattens the characters and events involved, or even reproduces and reinforces regressive thinking, versus reading other writers' works and figuring out how to build upon them.
There's so much you can do in terms of blending canons together, expanding on barely touched-upon concepts, grounding the stories in specific historical and contemporary contexts, examining authorial biases and prejudices to ponder what the story could look like without them, and so on. It's an extremely fun exercise and it can lead to such a boom of creativity, as opposed to the over-simplification of concepts fandom often veers towards.
At this point there are... what I think of as "pockets" of canon I would purposefully disregard, replace, remake, etc. using those methods. I have quite a few of these that I would use as the ground in which to grow other stories. It makes me want to go back through my tags to properly archive them; easter bunny David Cain has slightly taken off! And I have so, so much more to say regarding how I'd tweak Damian's origins + how it shaped the al Ghuls, among others.
The "pocket" I want to get into today involves a lot of the thoughts I've had lately regarding Bruce's childhood, the state of his extended family after Martha and Thomas's deaths, and Alfred or Leslie's roles in it.
I've talked so often about what I think of Alfred & Bruce as a straightforward parent-child relationship (read: I don't see it like that at all, and I don't care for the progression towards that in post-crisis and especially post-Nolan canon), that I couldn't link solely one post about it. Looking at my #alfred pennyworth tag would be quicker. A lot of it can be summed up by "Alfred doesn't have the authority and power in that relationship you guys think he has."
But at this point there's no unmaking this omelet; there's no returning Alfred to his pre-crisis self, where he only met Bruce as an adult. And I do like the uncomfortable blend between employee and caretaker that he inhabits, and how utterly fucked up it is. So Alfred working for the Wayne marriage and knowing Bruce as a young child is something I want to keep, while affording him more personhood and agency that canon left him with when it sackled him to these roles.
On the other hand, I refuse to renounce to the post-crisis concept of Dr Leslie Thompkins, Thomas's friend and coworker (though I like to imagine them clashing at first!), temporarily fostering Bruce, becoming a surrogate mother figure to him. And I think conveniently removing Bruce's extended family (especially if you want them to exist or be at all relevant later on in canon) is lazy and a waste of potential. Bringing both of them into the picture makes everything a lot more interesting.
Coming back to Alfred, for now. I would keep the brush strokes of his post-crisis backstory: Jarvis Pennyworth, his father, was the Wayne's butler. He married a stage actress (who I will name Phryne, for Phryne Fisher, because I can) who left him and returned to the stage in England, with Alfred following after her, to work as an actor as well (this could easily be placed after a stint in the military/intelligence services during WWII, because I'm using post-crisis math and working back from the mid-80s). In the comics, Jarvis dies before Martha and Thomas do, and this prompts Alfred to return to them, fulfilling his previously scorned filial duty. In the comics, Alfred stays, for good.
I would have Alfred leave. Return to England. He would have known Bruce as a child, and took care of him for a short-to-medium-long period, but his return was meant as something temporary, to help the Waynes until they found someone else who could fulfill it. He always intended to return to his life (which might or might not include some dalliance with a French woman that resulted in Julia Remarque; keeping that as a WWII spy affair is fun too; it'd make her at least a bit older than Bruce, but I can totally work with that when I bring her around for pre-crisis inspired Julia/Vicki Vale shenanigans). In this scenario, he got that. For a very, very short time, before the Waynes die. The guilt gets at him, and he returns.
At this point, I like to picture an all-out, only outwardly polite, custody battle for Bruce, between Martha's and Thomas's respective families. Leslie, as a close friend of the family and a pilar of the community, could be a temporary caretaker while the case gets sorted.
I have come to embrace the idea that Martha was an Arkham, not a Kane. Among other reasons, because I like it better if Kate Kane (a character I also "rebuild" in my head) isn't related to Bruce. And because I know there's a lot to untap in the Arkham family, even with my limited knowledge, and I think tying them more closely to Bruce is infinitely more interesting.
By working back from the mid-80s again and doing some very vague math (Jason being born in the mid 70s, Dick in the late 60s, Bruce as >15 years older than Dick, and Martha at least in her late 20s when she had Bruce), Martha and Thomas would be born circa the 20s. Amadeus Arkham, founder of Arkham Asylum, was born precisely in 1890. I personally like it better if Martha is his niece, or even grand-niece (granddaughter to a much older brother) and not another daughter (which... oof, I just read that backstory).
I think the Waynes get placed as Kennedy-lite in Gotham more often, but I prefer that position to go to the Arkhams, with a harsh fall from grace amidst accusations of horrible medical abuse. This is something that would hit Martha directly, specifically via conversion therapy. After reading Batman: Family (2002) I decided to see her as a closeted bisexual; she downplayed her "wild" youth as an adult, but before Thomas, her one serious, long-lasting relationship (which she covered with a series of flings and beards) was equally closeted Celia Kazantkakis, and it imploded spectacularly, as per that comic.
Sidenote, Martha's history of abuse makes this moment, where Thomas slaps Bruce and she scolds him but makes excuses for him with their child, all the more poignant. That scene has cemented how I see the Waynes, and I think this moment should haunt Bruce into adulthood, even if he pretends otherwise.
This would all be kept very quiet (though I imagine it making some very scandalous headlines when Bruce is an adult), but the truth of the matter is that Martha is completely no-contact with the Arkhams, while she and Martha keep a close relationship with the remaining Waynes. This being Vanderveer Wayne Sr., Thomas's (younger, at least here) brother, who I'm shamelessly grabbing from Powerless alongside his son, Van Jr. (who did make one appearance pre-crisis).
In this scenario Bruce would end with Vanderveer Sr., who I picture as the person in charge of Wayne Enterprises. Thomas had shares but worked full time as a doctor; Martha was in charge of the Foundation and focused on philanthropic efforts. In my head she was pre-law but never passed the bar, BTW. Maybe she had a bachelor in Sociology, to reference Batman: The Ultimate Evil, one of the few stories that does anything with Martha's character.
I imagine Vanderveer as... not terrible, maybe, but stern. Cold, strict, "a man's man", hardly someone who shows a lot of affection; but also someone willing and able to take care of Bruce, who would be a kid that, at this time, would make it extremely difficult to take care of him. I also was leaning towards making him a widower with a very young son (Van Jr. would be 2-3yo when Bruce arrives, at maybe... 8? 10? 12? YMMV, depending on how old I'll want to make him when he's orphaned), but I've decided, solely to add even more angst, to give the younger Mrs. Wayne (say... Irene) a terminal illness, making her live only a couple years more. Leslie was her doctor.
In my head, Vanderveer Sr lived long enough to meet Dick (who I like to introduce at 12yo, because otherwise the math re: Tim's presence that day in the circus is ridiculous), though by then he was extremely sick and needed around the clock care, provided (monetarily) by Bruce, and he never got to meet Jason. Van Jr., who is extremely flamboyant and annoying and the exact kind of gay man people both inside and outside the community love to look down on, has his main residence outside of Gotham, maybe in San Francisco (definitely in the West Coast), pops in and out of Bruce's life every once in a while. He didn't have a good relationship with his father, and he and Bruce aren't close at all. I think he survived the AIDs crisis in the 80s, but that it hit him hard, emotionally, and that it shaped his work afterwards (but, and this is key, he never stopped being THAT kind of in-your-face gay man).
Back to Bruce's time with the Vanderveers: it's in this environment that Alfred offers his services to the remaining Waynes. They would not live in the manor, but in the city (Alfred would also offer his services keeping the manor in shape for Master Bruce). Alfred, and Leslie to a lesser extent, as the family doctor and friend, help raise and support Bruce in this environment.
Until he seeks emancipation, which I 100% see Bruce doing (and Vanderveer seeing it as Bruce Becoming A Man and looking at it positively). He succeeds at ~16, finishing school early as well. Alfred and Leslie become, or try to become, far more involved there, begging him to not go on his own quite yet. It works for those remaining couple of years until Bruce is 18, with him often leaving with Leslie on her trips (they so desperately want him to go to med school), and Alfred staying behind taking care of both Wayne houses.
And then Bruce leaves for his abroad training, and returns even more changed.
-I'm choosing to make Irene Jewish. Her being so, rising Van as such, and sharing her customs with Bruce the short time she spent with him, with Vanderveer following her footstep but from the perspective of a Christian-raised man could easily account for Bruce's (mainly post-reboot AFAIK) Schrödinger Judaism in a way I find very interesting.
-Alfred was raised in Wayne Manor, as a child, which adds another layer to his attachment to it and some fascinating, conflicted feelings on much about the Wayne family. Also Bruce is kind of his landlord...
-Van and Bruce have little to no relationship as adults. Van was, to Bruce, and extremely annoying kid who flailed about and followed him everywhere, and later on (when Bruce was away and when he returned) and extremely derelict, troublesome teenager. Vanderveer was a point of contention in the relationship as well, because he had a lot of respect for Bruce, who he perceived as self-made and competent, and none for flaky, weak Van. There was definitely homophobia at play, even if he would've said the issue wasn't "Van's ~lifestyle".
-Van moved away very young, late teens / early twenties. Depending on where I land math-wise, he might've briefly crossed paths with Dick. He would've been in his early-mid twenties when his father died, which makes all this judgement for him not having it all together so young all the more ??? lmao, but very fitting in this context.
-Eventually he should come around and end up meeting Jason, either in an AU where he survives or as his canon adult self, thanks to some contrivances. This is solely because I think Jason would find him and his rap sheet for vandalism, public disorder etc. (mostly due to protests) immensely cool. Bruce still can't stand him btw. Van both admires and resents Bruce, and absolutely thrives in scandalising him.
-The scandal about Martha's "lesbianism" (because this is how it'd be framed by the press, in a way that would trouble Bruce re: his parents' marriage) and time in conversion therapy would come up with Bruce well into adulthood. There are many possibilities on where to place it to cause maximum impact. It could be used to add to Celia's introduction to Bruce, who'd come to know her as his mother's lover.
Some semi-organised ramblings by clicking the triangle.
I've talked so often about what I think of Alfred & Bruce as a straightforward parent-child relationship (read: I don't see it like that at all, and I don't care for the progression towards that in post-crisis and especially post-Nolan canon), that I couldn't link solely one post about it. Looking at my #alfred pennyworth tag would be quicker. A lot of it can be summed up by "Alfred doesn't have the authority and power in that relationship you guys think he has."
But at this point there's no unmaking this omelet; there's no returning Alfred to his pre-crisis self, where he only met Bruce as an adult. And I do like the uncomfortable blend between employee and caretaker that he inhabits, and how utterly fucked up it is. So Alfred working for the Wayne marriage and knowing Bruce as a young child is something I want to keep, while affording him more personhood and agency that canon left him with when it sackled him to these roles.
On the other hand, I refuse to renounce to the post-crisis concept of Dr Leslie Thompkins, Thomas's friend and coworker (though I like to imagine them clashing at first!), temporarily fostering Bruce, becoming a surrogate mother figure to him. And I think conveniently removing Bruce's extended family (especially if you want them to exist or be at all relevant later on in canon) is lazy and a waste of potential. Bringing both of them into the picture makes everything a lot more interesting.
Coming back to Alfred, for now. I would keep the brush strokes of his post-crisis backstory: Jarvis Pennyworth, his father, was the Wayne's butler. He married a stage actress (who I will name Phryne, for Phryne Fisher, because I can) who left him and returned to the stage in England, with Alfred following after her, to work as an actor as well (this could easily be placed after a stint in the military/intelligence services during WWII, because I'm using post-crisis math and working back from the mid-80s). In the comics, Jarvis dies before Martha and Thomas do, and this prompts Alfred to return to them, fulfilling his previously scorned filial duty. In the comics, Alfred stays, for good.
I would have Alfred leave. Return to England. He would have known Bruce as a child, and took care of him for a short-to-medium-long period, but his return was meant as something temporary, to help the Waynes until they found someone else who could fulfill it. He always intended to return to his life (which might or might not include some dalliance with a French woman that resulted in Julia Remarque; keeping that as a WWII spy affair is fun too; it'd make her at least a bit older than Bruce, but I can totally work with that when I bring her around for pre-crisis inspired Julia/Vicki Vale shenanigans). In this scenario, he got that. For a very, very short time, before the Waynes die. The guilt gets at him, and he returns.
At this point, I like to picture an all-out, only outwardly polite, custody battle for Bruce, between Martha's and Thomas's respective families. Leslie, as a close friend of the family and a pilar of the community, could be a temporary caretaker while the case gets sorted.
I have come to embrace the idea that Martha was an Arkham, not a Kane. Among other reasons, because I like it better if Kate Kane (a character I also "rebuild" in my head) isn't related to Bruce. And because I know there's a lot to untap in the Arkham family, even with my limited knowledge, and I think tying them more closely to Bruce is infinitely more interesting.
By working back from the mid-80s again and doing some very vague math (Jason being born in the mid 70s, Dick in the late 60s, Bruce as >15 years older than Dick, and Martha at least in her late 20s when she had Bruce), Martha and Thomas would be born circa the 20s. Amadeus Arkham, founder of Arkham Asylum, was born precisely in 1890. I personally like it better if Martha is his niece, or even grand-niece (granddaughter to a much older brother) and not another daughter (which... oof, I just read that backstory).
I think the Waynes get placed as Kennedy-lite in Gotham more often, but I prefer that position to go to the Arkhams, with a harsh fall from grace amidst accusations of horrible medical abuse. This is something that would hit Martha directly, specifically via conversion therapy. After reading Batman: Family (2002) I decided to see her as a closeted bisexual; she downplayed her "wild" youth as an adult, but before Thomas, her one serious, long-lasting relationship (which she covered with a series of flings and beards) was equally closeted Celia Kazantkakis, and it imploded spectacularly, as per that comic.
Sidenote, Martha's history of abuse makes this moment, where Thomas slaps Bruce and she scolds him but makes excuses for him with their child, all the more poignant. That scene has cemented how I see the Waynes, and I think this moment should haunt Bruce into adulthood, even if he pretends otherwise.
This would all be kept very quiet (though I imagine it making some very scandalous headlines when Bruce is an adult), but the truth of the matter is that Martha is completely no-contact with the Arkhams, while she and Martha keep a close relationship with the remaining Waynes. This being Vanderveer Wayne Sr., Thomas's (younger, at least here) brother, who I'm shamelessly grabbing from Powerless alongside his son, Van Jr. (who did make one appearance pre-crisis).
In this scenario Bruce would end with Vanderveer Sr., who I picture as the person in charge of Wayne Enterprises. Thomas had shares but worked full time as a doctor; Martha was in charge of the Foundation and focused on philanthropic efforts. In my head she was pre-law but never passed the bar, BTW. Maybe she had a bachelor in Sociology, to reference Batman: The Ultimate Evil, one of the few stories that does anything with Martha's character.
I imagine Vanderveer as... not terrible, maybe, but stern. Cold, strict, "a man's man", hardly someone who shows a lot of affection; but also someone willing and able to take care of Bruce, who would be a kid that, at this time, would make it extremely difficult to take care of him. I also was leaning towards making him a widower with a very young son (Van Jr. would be 2-3yo when Bruce arrives, at maybe... 8? 10? 12? YMMV, depending on how old I'll want to make him when he's orphaned), but I've decided, solely to add even more angst, to give the younger Mrs. Wayne (say... Irene) a terminal illness, making her live only a couple years more. Leslie was her doctor.
In my head, Vanderveer Sr lived long enough to meet Dick (who I like to introduce at 12yo, because otherwise the math re: Tim's presence that day in the circus is ridiculous), though by then he was extremely sick and needed around the clock care, provided (monetarily) by Bruce, and he never got to meet Jason. Van Jr., who is extremely flamboyant and annoying and the exact kind of gay man people both inside and outside the community love to look down on, has his main residence outside of Gotham, maybe in San Francisco (definitely in the West Coast), pops in and out of Bruce's life every once in a while. He didn't have a good relationship with his father, and he and Bruce aren't close at all. I think he survived the AIDs crisis in the 80s, but that it hit him hard, emotionally, and that it shaped his work afterwards (but, and this is key, he never stopped being THAT kind of in-your-face gay man).
Back to Bruce's time with the Vanderveers: it's in this environment that Alfred offers his services to the remaining Waynes. They would not live in the manor, but in the city (Alfred would also offer his services keeping the manor in shape for Master Bruce). Alfred, and Leslie to a lesser extent, as the family doctor and friend, help raise and support Bruce in this environment.
Until he seeks emancipation, which I 100% see Bruce doing (and Vanderveer seeing it as Bruce Becoming A Man and looking at it positively). He succeeds at ~16, finishing school early as well. Alfred and Leslie become, or try to become, far more involved there, begging him to not go on his own quite yet. It works for those remaining couple of years until Bruce is 18, with him often leaving with Leslie on her trips (they so desperately want him to go to med school), and Alfred staying behind taking care of both Wayne houses.
And then Bruce leaves for his abroad training, and returns even more changed.
Plus couple more details I'm adding / expanding on today
-I'm choosing to make Irene Jewish. Her being so, rising Van as such, and sharing her customs with Bruce the short time she spent with him, with Vanderveer following her footstep but from the perspective of a Christian-raised man could easily account for Bruce's (mainly post-reboot AFAIK) Schrödinger Judaism in a way I find very interesting.
-Alfred was raised in Wayne Manor, as a child, which adds another layer to his attachment to it and some fascinating, conflicted feelings on much about the Wayne family. Also Bruce is kind of his landlord...
-Van and Bruce have little to no relationship as adults. Van was, to Bruce, and extremely annoying kid who flailed about and followed him everywhere, and later on (when Bruce was away and when he returned) and extremely derelict, troublesome teenager. Vanderveer was a point of contention in the relationship as well, because he had a lot of respect for Bruce, who he perceived as self-made and competent, and none for flaky, weak Van. There was definitely homophobia at play, even if he would've said the issue wasn't "Van's ~lifestyle".
-Van moved away very young, late teens / early twenties. Depending on where I land math-wise, he might've briefly crossed paths with Dick. He would've been in his early-mid twenties when his father died, which makes all this judgement for him not having it all together so young all the more ??? lmao, but very fitting in this context.
-Eventually he should come around and end up meeting Jason, either in an AU where he survives or as his canon adult self, thanks to some contrivances. This is solely because I think Jason would find him and his rap sheet for vandalism, public disorder etc. (mostly due to protests) immensely cool. Bruce still can't stand him btw. Van both admires and resents Bruce, and absolutely thrives in scandalising him.
-The scandal about Martha's "lesbianism" (because this is how it'd be framed by the press, in a way that would trouble Bruce re: his parents' marriage) and time in conversion therapy would come up with Bruce well into adulthood. There are many possibilities on where to place it to cause maximum impact. It could be used to add to Celia's introduction to Bruce, who'd come to know her as his mother's lover.
