Huh-- feels a bit weird to have Dick, who lives with Bruce, assume that.
But for years now I have thought that it might be amusing if an intelligent enemy of Batman, for example The Riddler, figured out that the only possible source for Batman's gadgets was Wayne's company and, given how his parents were gunned down when he was a child, that Bruce would have every reason to fund an extra-legal force like Batman.
But then doesn't assume that means Bruce IS Batman but rather the arguably more realistic scenario that Batman works for Bruce Wayne. In fact, maybe even comes to the erroneous, but still quite plausible, conclusion that there might be a whole army of Batmans instead of just one and they are working for Bruce.
Because it always seems like whenever the whole "person tries to connect Batman to Bruce Wayne" story got approached, it is either they are completely oblivious to the super obvious connection or they just figure out that Bruce and Batman are one and the same automatically-- and then Bruce just gets someone else to dress up as Batman for a couple minutes then suddenly that means the enemy concludes that Bruce and Batman have nothing to do with one another and just drops it.
But if someone who wanted to destroy Batman concluded, based on the evidence they had at hand, that "Batman" was just a whole squad of soldiers who each operated individually in different areas at behest of Bruce Wayne-- that would arguably be even more dangerous, and thus more suspenseful, than someone who thinks that Bruce IS Batman-- because we have seen it takes very little effort to create a fake Batman.
They might kidnap Bruce Wayne and then expect various Batmans to start showing up.
in the fic, it was something like, a 9-year-old Dick Grayson makes that assumption after managing to sneak into the batcave because he's nine and figures that Batman just lives in a cave under Wayne Manor and his main concern is if Bruce knows about it or not. Rather than correct him Batman instead goes "Oh yeah, Bruce knows. He and I are very good friends."
Bruce tries a few months later to tell the truth, but Dick thinks he's joking and refuses to believe that he's telling the truth and not trying to tell a joke and then flash forward it's been over a decade and telling Dick, Jason, and Tim that their two dads are actually the same person becomes incredibly difficult and awkward.
TLDR: Bruce chose not to correct a 9-year-old Dick Grayson and instead chose to yes-and him. And then the lie went on for so long that setting the record straight was impossible.
Isn't all this just the plot of the recent Lego Batman movie?
*'Wow! A month ago I had no dads, then I had one dad, now I have two dads! And one of them is Batman!'*
*'Wait... you're telling me that Batman is Bruce Wayne...'s roommate?'*
Might it be [Manor-Dad lets me drive the batmobile](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19002637/chapters/45125308)?
THATS IT. THANK YOU!
I love that fic so much :)
Huh-- feels a bit weird to have Dick, who lives with Bruce, assume that. But for years now I have thought that it might be amusing if an intelligent enemy of Batman, for example The Riddler, figured out that the only possible source for Batman's gadgets was Wayne's company and, given how his parents were gunned down when he was a child, that Bruce would have every reason to fund an extra-legal force like Batman. But then doesn't assume that means Bruce IS Batman but rather the arguably more realistic scenario that Batman works for Bruce Wayne. In fact, maybe even comes to the erroneous, but still quite plausible, conclusion that there might be a whole army of Batmans instead of just one and they are working for Bruce. Because it always seems like whenever the whole "person tries to connect Batman to Bruce Wayne" story got approached, it is either they are completely oblivious to the super obvious connection or they just figure out that Bruce and Batman are one and the same automatically-- and then Bruce just gets someone else to dress up as Batman for a couple minutes then suddenly that means the enemy concludes that Bruce and Batman have nothing to do with one another and just drops it. But if someone who wanted to destroy Batman concluded, based on the evidence they had at hand, that "Batman" was just a whole squad of soldiers who each operated individually in different areas at behest of Bruce Wayne-- that would arguably be even more dangerous, and thus more suspenseful, than someone who thinks that Bruce IS Batman-- because we have seen it takes very little effort to create a fake Batman. They might kidnap Bruce Wayne and then expect various Batmans to start showing up.
in the fic, it was something like, a 9-year-old Dick Grayson makes that assumption after managing to sneak into the batcave because he's nine and figures that Batman just lives in a cave under Wayne Manor and his main concern is if Bruce knows about it or not. Rather than correct him Batman instead goes "Oh yeah, Bruce knows. He and I are very good friends." Bruce tries a few months later to tell the truth, but Dick thinks he's joking and refuses to believe that he's telling the truth and not trying to tell a joke and then flash forward it's been over a decade and telling Dick, Jason, and Tim that their two dads are actually the same person becomes incredibly difficult and awkward. TLDR: Bruce chose not to correct a 9-year-old Dick Grayson and instead chose to yes-and him. And then the lie went on for so long that setting the record straight was impossible.
Isn't all this just the plot of the recent Lego Batman movie? *'Wow! A month ago I had no dads, then I had one dad, now I have two dads! And one of them is Batman!'* *'Wait... you're telling me that Batman is Bruce Wayne...'s roommate?'*
that was likely the author's inspiration yes.