Too old, too mature, too independent

I still think should Stephanie Brown ever become a working mother/working student who constantly tends her nieces a lot, she might give off the wrong impression to some readers and writers. Too independent to remain a sidekick for long, too mature to be a Batgirl or Robin and way too matronly to pull off the same things she did before, or rather too matronly to do whatever fans wanted her to do. Not that there’s anything wrong with having her as a working mum or something similar.

But it does make her mature and independent in a way she wasn’t in the original stories. But way too mature and independent to remain a sidekick for long. As in she’d prioritise her biological family above the Bat-family and Tim Drake especially. Worse she might even nag at him whenever he mooches around or disobeys her. (It would reflect badly on both of them to some.) Like I said, having Steph become a working mum/similar makes her matronly but so matronly that she’s practically no longer a teenaged girl.

After all, she’ll inevitably do the predictably mummy things and possibly even tutor and mentor her younger relatives a lot. Though tutoring and mentoring her younger relatives a lot still reinforces the newly matronly aspect in Steph’s personality. So much so that fans and writers might have to accept her as a truly adult woman. (Though it would also be embarrassing in that Tim practically remained a teenaged lad.)

So there’s that.

Women’s nests

I half swear should Black Canary ever turn out to be Tim’s biological aunt and Stephanie Brown not only retain her baby (or get to look after children in general) but also get a job herself there’s also a frightening chance that they’d take turns at henpecking Tim. Or at least being stricter than normally portrayed. Consider this. Stephanie Brown’s not only busy looking after her family but also works at a restaurant and every time Tim Drake comes to her house, she demands him to do some housework and babysit the baby himself.

However he refuses and they get into fights with Stephanie resuming her usual work with Tim lazing around as usual. As for Black Canary herself, she’d end up not only (over)protecting him but also rigourously mentoring him a lot. I even half expect her to not only train Tim when needed but also make him do household chores or at least something similar. Though it’s not that Dinah Lance’s incapable of motherly instincts and behaviours.

But since she trains teenagers on Young Justice, she’d train Tim Drake a lot since he’s her nephew and would be really close as to be sometimes strict. Though that’s saying in that Dana Winters wasn’t that as involved in Tim’s life, let alone as his constant mentor the way Aunt Dinah Lance would and why in this situation Dinah Lance’s enough to suffice as a good mother figure to Tim Drake.

(Should Stephanie Brown also become a working mother to support herself and her child, that’s undoing what’s been done to both of them before and makes you wonder why nobody considered this.)

In a weird way, should Black Canary ever be ‘grandmothered’ into being Tim’s blood aunt and Stephanie continue caring for her child and going so far to work to support them and herself, it does deconstruct the earlier Robin stories as sexist in the sense that there were rather stereotyped perceptions of motherhood. Either as overly submissive cheerleader types (though that would be an insult to actual cheerleaders).

Or in Steph’s case, considered dubious on the basis on being unable to care for her child now that she works as a superheroine. Rather ironically, this hasn’t stopped mothers from continuing to work and some even work as prostitutes. Conversely speaking, people like Madonna and Beyonce are no strangers to wearing sexy outfits onstage but are also mothers themselves at this point.

So Stephanie Brown being a working mother* and Black Canary being Tim’s aunt aren’t stretches in this regard. As much as the real problem may like with how oddly sexist the Robin stories are in hindsight.

*If Stephanie Brown were to be portrayed as a working mother, she wouldn’t just nag at Tim for being lazy and make him do chores but also end up much more independent than originally portrayed in that she won’t always have time for him and the entire Bat-family when she has her own family to tend to.

She’s his aunt

I think having Black Canary around as Tim’s biological aunt wouldn’t just render other characters (especially Lady Shiva and Dana Winters) redundant but deconstruct other problems. Tim Drake never had much of a strong biological female relative to guide and mentor him, so having Black Canary as his blood aunt would answer that. Not to mention having to reconcile her fashion sense with the fact that she’s related to Tim.

Let’s not also forget that many pop stars today are mothers themselves. Cher could probably be a grandmother by then which still counts and corroborates what I’m saying. It wouldn’t matter if they wear fishnets onstage but the fact that they’re also somebody else’s mother by now should ring the alarm. Especially for misogynists who can’t make up their minds that such women would even be mothers. Also I even have female relatives who have children themselves yet dress skimpily in public.

So there’s that.

They keep nagging at him for screwing up

Like I said, I have a feeling should Black Canary show up as Tim Drake’s blood aunt she’d not only make both Lady Shiva and Dana Winters redundant but also be stricter and more protective too. Not that she’d nag at Tim Drake every time but I still suspect she’d end up doing tough love to Tim more often. (Though one wonders if Dana Winters was written to be nothing more than perpetually complacent and sweet but also ultimately weak enough to be written off.)

Alternately speaking, should Stephanie Brown still look after her child she’d nag at Tim for not helping her look after them (or her nieces). Not only that, she’d also lose her temper whenever Tim screws up at all and the like. People are used to Steph screwing up but not when it’s Tim who screws up (especially with house chores and the like) that it feels emasculating and insulting to them.

Same thing would happen if Steph’s not only better at football/soccer than Tim is but also weightlifts a lot more, makes her own gym equipment (some people do it) and Rao forbid if she’s also better than Tim in boxing. (If I’m not mistaken, Supergirl did do chores pretty well in one story and some are intimidated by the possibility of her being stronger than Superman so there’s that.)

Rao also forbid if Black Canary (his biological aunt) starts nagging at Tim for forgetting to do his homework. If she does have the Canary Cry, well like with Steph it would be the same thing all over again. Women who’re much better at Tim in something and nag at him for screwing up in some way. The only real differences would be that Black Canary’s more like the strict soccer mum type and Steph being Tim’s perpetually stressed out girlfriend.

Especially if/when Tim expects her to cater to his needs but not to hers. I also think their personalities would change a lot too. By being Tim’s biological aunt Black Canary becomes a much sterner, harsher character if because she expects highly of Tim. Steph, being devoted to her own biological family, starts becoming much more assertive, demanding and even spiteful to Tim especially if/when he disobeys or ignores her.

I suspect if these happen, readers would be dismayed to see a Tim Drake who gets henpecked a lot by women and especially his own biological relative and girlfriend something I think that’s rarely if ever seen in the original Robin stories.

Having a nagging woman wouldn’t help but not when those nagging women are a seasoned superheroine and his stressed out girlfriend with a family to attend to respectively, that’s when you realise why the original Robin stories were so sexist as to lack a stronger, more assertive female role model and one who’s not a member of the Bat-family to boot.

And why Stephanie Brown’s seldom taken seriously, let alone delive into stories where she has to support her family by working as a frycook (Supergirl worked as a waitress and Peter Parker as a photographer respectively) and also where she does make her own gym equipment out of scratch. (Though that would be emasculating in the sense of her being far more driven than Tim ever was.)

A rich female cousin

I suspect should Dick Grayson ever get a millionairess for a cousin, not only would it lessen his tie to Batman and the rest of the Batfamily (the same thing would happen should Tim turn out to be biologically related to Black Canary and Stephanie spending more time with her own biological family) but it would lead to somewhat unflattering storylines at least to some. Especially when it comes to leeching off her (and her boyfriend/husband’s) money.

But that would also mean that Dick Grayson’s often stuck in dead-end jobs. A thread pointed out that there’s a lack of direction for Dick Grayson as Nightwing compared to let’s say Batman and Robin where at least there’s a clear consensus over their positions and in Batman’s case, his job and accomplishments. It’s not necessarily wrong to go through multiple jobs but being Nightwing kind of risks being basically and practically a lesser Batman. Having a rich female cousin would also prove this right.

In the sense that he expects her to coddle and give him money. A kind of mother he never had since he’s canonically orphaned. Or at least a big sister figure for him to look up to and one of those truly platonic relationships given nobody wants him involved in incest. But that’s also realising that in the Nightwing comics, women often almost always show up as either seductresses, love interests or admirers.

He seldom has much of a platonic relationship with women when you think about it. Had Black Canary turned out to be Tim’s biological aunt and Stephanie Brown remained dedicated to looking after her family, it would be harder to pretend that they won’t nag at him or at least demand him to do something. Be it chores or looking after the baby (or at least any one of Stephanie’s younger relatives like a niece). The Nightwing equivalent’s that he’d rely a lot on her and her lover’s money.

Kind of like the superhero version of mammonismo in real life Italy if because both Tim and Dick are practically helpless in some regards and still rely on their female relatives to do the dirty work for them. Extra emotional labour if because they themselves never bothered putting real effort in learning to work for themselves. Let alone cases where they’re made to do chores (including being made to look after younger relatives) if because this barely happens in canon.

Admittedly, Disney and Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures aren’t any better in some regards but at least have characters bother looking after/mentoring younger relatives even if they themselves sometimes screw up or something. The fact that Tim would get mentored a lot by Black Canary if she were his biological aunt or Dick turning to his female cousin for extra cash suggests that on one hand, they’re rarely if ever looked after by their own relatives let alone a biological female one.

On the other hand, that’s too prescient in the sense that women are often expected to do emotional labour for people. Whether if it’s supervising people or mentoring them, they’re often made to do it and eventually get tired (Spongebob Squarepants feels the same way too). Same thing would happen if Stephanie Brown remained dedicated to her own biological family and the more she has to work with Tim, the more stressed out she gets eventually.

Again Disney and JJBA aren’t any better in some regards (though the latter’s author might mature so) but at least actually have male characters bother mentoring and looking after their own biological relatives even if they sometimes screw up. Whereas I get the impression that in cape comics, whenever superheroes do get children and younger relatives they often almost always end up being raised by somebody else.

Having Dick be partly raised by his uncle and cousin deconstructs the very thing I’m talking about. Same thing if Black Canary were Tim’s biological aunt though that would be because she makes both Dana Winters and Lady Shiva redundant the more you think about it.

Looking after the baby

I still think should Stephanie Brown ever continue taking care of her child (or nieces), that wouldn’t just necessitate stories where she has to work harder and become much more inventive (going to the point of either reusing her own old clothes or making clothes out of new fabrics) but also start nagging at Tim for lazing around. I mean I even half expect Steph to not only take vocational classes but also become more open to doing new activities out of survival especially when she’s charged with taking care of her own family that she has to be both caretaker and breadwinner.

That’s actually even a quandary some women, especially African American women, get into. Especially if/when their boyfriends and husbands either get jailed or just aren’t that helpful that they have to do a lot more responsibilities. Like I said, I even get the feeling Steph would end up as a working mum who educates herself and has to do and learn a lot of things to help herself and her family. Tim, on the other hand, is somebody she demands to help her around but throws a fit when he refuses to. There are even people who feel the same way around others as I know from personal experience.

The idea that Steph would have to be inventive enough to better care for her child, going so far to reuse her old clothes (or at least use them as patterns for their clothes) if/when she’s so cash-strapped that necessitates stories where she has to really, really work to save herself and her family. Without anybody else to help her, I even suspect if she ever grew devoted to the baby she’d probably end up much more independent and also more demanding than originally portrayed. Which proves my point that she’s going to nag at Tim for not helping around.

But the problem’s that it doesn’t seem fun to imagine storylines where Steph has to create things from scratch for her baby, doing a lot of work to earn money (and something better to do) and yelling at Tim for lazing around. No wonder why the baby got written out, never mind these are highly plausible situations should the baby remain.

Fear of domesticity

I suspect part of the reason why you don’t see that many truly married characters in superhero comics (or any adventure comics), let alone characters in actual long term relationships without convoluted nonsense is that it seems either boring or maybe some are just too private to depict married relationships (the latter seems likely). Another one, if the Flash comics are any indication, is that the girlfriend in question would be a nag. Or in Spider-Man’s case, she’d emasculate him in some way by being better than him in something else.

She could be wealthier (Mary Jane) or possibly much better at sports/physical activity than he’ll ever be (Big Barda, Wonder Woman and Supergirl to some extent). Though keep in mind that some writers seem comfortable enough to have the super-strong, brawny likes of Big Barda and Supergirl date/marry highly intellectual/academic men. Whilst others seem to have trouble considering the odd possibility that Stephanie Brown might be kilometres better than Tim at sports.

(Though one wonders if Supergirl, Wonder Woman, Jean Grey and Big Barda get away with this by the virtue of being highly exceptional, supernatural women that does excuse them from certain criticisms that plague poor old Mary Jane and Iris West.)

If that’s case, I guess the more normal a woman is whenever she starts emasculating her male counterpart the more hated she gets even if it’s not always nor consistently the case (especially for Wonder Woman and Supergirl). But it still makes sense that there’ll be attempts to knock them down. Look no further than what’s been done to Big Barda. Ad infinitum.

There are a number of Spider-Man readers who can’t stand Mary Jane, finding her emasculating on the belief that she outearns Peter Parker and preferring him to be with Gwen (who in reality wasn’t any better early on). There are a lot of fans who can’t stand Iris West, black or white. There are some who consider her to be a mean little shrew.

Even before the CW programme aired. Whilst Steph’s an already polarising character, should she turn out to be better than Tim in sports and nag at him whenever he refues to help her in caring for her family and doing household duties fans will surely hate her for being a ball-breaker. And partly why domesticity rarely happens in superhero comics. Nobody wants a nagging wife/girlfriend.

Nobody wants a girlfriend/wife who’s stronger or better than him in some regards (look no further than what Mary Jane gets). Alternately speaking, not too many superheroes have children. Let alone allow them to grow up and have children or at least learn to look after younger relatives in general for extended periods of time, even if they may not always raise them right (Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures or X-Men comics to some extent).

This might partly account for why at least in the magazines writers never allow Spider-Man to grow up. Never mind that early on in the comics he was actually mature for his age (having to look after his family and a job whilst studying). Similarly, we never get to see Steph look after younger relatives for long even though other characters are allowed to do this (Donald Duck, Jotaro Kujo and his grandfather Joseph). But that would necessitate situations where she’d nag at Tim for not helping her around.

The only few characters allowed to actually raise children or look after younger relatives in any way, even if it’s flawed are generally rather a few. These include Invisible Woman and Mr Fantastic, Superman (at times), Jean Grey and Scott Summers, Roy Harper, Wally West and the Invisibles to whatever extent. When I mean by that, most superheroes rarely look after biological relatives.

Just a few of them actually do it often. But that would mean necessitating the character to mature for good. Jotaro Kujo went from a delinquent to a loyal mentor to his younger relatives even if he still screws up. Donald Duck’s sometimes responsible for his nephews. Even Peter Parker has to be responsible for Aunt May. There won’t be any illusion of change in here.

Especially when they have serious familial obligations to do, they can’t go back to being children again. That’s a strong contrast to the usual superhero get-up where if a superhero turns out to have a younger relative they let other people babysit them. This is what Supergirl usually gets and we rarely see her hang out with fellow Kryptonians.

If superheroes are supposed to be a childish power fantasy, having them get to raise younger biological relatives ruins this. But that would mean characters would have to become adults. The younger relative might be a nephew/niece or even uncle (again in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures, the first lad Jotaro mentors is his much younger uncle) or an actual son/daughter (X-Men has this in spades).

You could age up that child but once that happens, characters like Jotaro and Scott can’t go back to being children as they’ve got a younger relative to raise and care for. And why the illusion of change thrives on minimising or eliminating the possibility of familial obligations and domesticity for most superheroes.

At home with…Tim and Steph

Like I said, should there be storylines where Steph gets mad at him for not helping her take care of her family or other children and people that’s going to not only necessitate Tim to be lazy and foolish but also a stronger emphasis on slice of life and domestic themes. That’s not entirely unprecedented in superhero comics. But that involves actual changes and new themes.

Steph would be the most stressed out character on the block. Constantly trying to do what’s right, doing household chores and looking after her family whilst getting mad at Tim for not helping her around. Tim would do anything to avoid her. If not, she gets into fights with him. If these ever happened and took place, that wouldn’t just mean a decreased emphasis on superhero battles.

(Though her fights with Tim would count as such.)

But also necessitate a lot of storylines where Steph wants to relax and make Tim or somebody else help her in doing those chores and Tim tuning out to be his own villain. In that he not only annoys Steph with his laziness/refusal to help her (and have her antagonise him when he refuses) but that he causes his own problems. By being lazy and/or condescending.

With Steph and Tim getting into never-ending domestic battles over who gets to do work and Tim angering her whenever he refuses, it would be realising that either the Robin comics don’t have that many memorable villains to begin with or that Tim’s really his own worst enemy. (Not helped by that Anarky was supposed to be Robin and he uses the same weapons as he does, which essentially proves my point in a way.)

If that’s the case, that would mean he’s responsible for his own problems and Steph’s stress. Though admittedly Steph wouldn’t be any better whenever she lashes out at Tim for helping her around and sometimes crying and whining whenever he refuses to. Not really cool stuff to read at least but that involves a lot more on truly personal/domestic storylines than is intended by original writers.

Tim, the world’s laziest Robin

It’s one thing to taut about Stephanie learning from her mistakes, it’s another to show that Tim could make serious mistakes. When I mean by that, his mistake’s to constantly ignore and neglect Stephanie whenever she asks him to help her around in looking after her family. Looking after family members isn’t really easy. Made harder still by that Steph juggles with a lot that she’s going to lash out at Tim for being lazy and unhelpful.

That would necessitate Tim to eventually help out or inevitably always be the target of Stephanie’s domestic rage. Not to mention domestic duties seem jarring in a superhero storyline especially as it seems too boring for some. Never mind that this is the situation Tim gets into whenever he gets scolded by Steph for not helping her look after her baby or her other relatives.

Tim being coerced by her in helping her care for her family a lot and doing household chores (as to lessen the workload) with Tim mansplaining to her would mean Tim would actually be flawed and that he himself might not be bright or at least foolish and insensitive to Steph’s feelings. But that’s something not too many writers bother doing.

As that necessitates more storylines focusing on domestic troubles, the slice of life stuff basically.

The Sleaze Knight Returns

Imagine if Tim’s recurring flaw’s that of idleness, it’s only natural that the inevitable consequences involves Steph being livid over Tim’s laziness and stubbornness that she’s going to boss him around and cry whenever she fails to make him do work. They’d even fight a lot. Steph would complain to her friends about how lazy Tim gets. That he refuses to help her in looking after her family would mean Steph would really be tired and pissed.

No seriously, Tim would turn out to be not only lazy but also arrogant and condescending. Considering if Steph has to juggle between looking after her family, trying to get the job right and doing household chores a lot that she’s going to get mad at Tim everytime he refuses to help her. The demand-withdraw situation as they say. She never gives up at what she does but also loses her cool if/when Tim doesn’t comply in helping her look after her family.

Tim would start looking like a sexist tool of a lad if he’s the one person Steph’s always mad at for not helping her around in looking after her family.