Bounce

The New Frontier: A Marvel/DC One Universe RP

Oh hush, this is her current outfit anyway. As you can see it is much more practical!

Hider

@Vandy

She's Kryptonian.

While I've read different theories about the aura of deus ex GODMODEWTF that prevents their suits from tearing under normal circumstances, the fact is that their bodies are more indestructible than anything they'd wear. So, but for the .0000000001% chance of a piece of Krypton happening to survive re-entry to Earth, they could pretty much go naked and it still be practical. Not modest. But still practical.

The New Frontier: A Marvel/DC One Universe RP

So my question then becomes, if Batman or Captain America were introduced today would Robin/Bucky still exist?

@Lord Wraith

Kid Loki was introduced as a kind of Thor sidekick for Fear Itself and has his own fan following that rivals Lady Loki's. And I'd argue the Kid Loki storyline is one of the best told storylines that I've seen Marvel pull off in the last decade.

For a long time after Death in the Family, we didn't have a Robin. Tim was added and people are still upset that he's not Robin currently (isn't he still Robin in Batman & Robin Eternal though)? Damian came along and had this instant like him/hate him effect, which has followed the character throughout DCU, New 52, and whatever we're calling the state of DC comics today (50 fucking retcons later...) And they killed Damian and that had its own polarizing effect on the fan base, but at the end of the day people were still demanding that there be a Robin. They're just split on whether Robin should be Tim or Damian (and then there's the Steph and Kelly Carrie fans)

So, to answer the question, I think the answer to the question is still yes. Young heroes have always stood on their own, from Jim Hawking in Treasure Island to Billy Batson in Captain Marvel to Louise Simonson creating an entire superhero team composed of 12 and under characters (Power Pack, which ran in its own series from 84-92). At the same time, the sidekick has become iconic and the young sidekick is just another trope related to that.

The New Frontier: A Marvel/DC One Universe RP

<Snipped quote by Bounce>

True, although apparently Batman and Moon Knight can do predictions of gender based off of a combination of the weight distribution, height and potential age that you'd get off the Heely marks, the sword execution and the two gunshots.

@Dblade26

I like the analysis for the opportunity to dissect the scene.

I could see the gender prediction working in adults, where you have different BMI baselines. Preadolescence though gender is pretty indistinct. For the most part, a 10 year old boy and 10 year old girl are going be extremely similar in body shape and weight. In terms of forensic data, I'd think Damian would be indistinguishable from Hit-Girl.

The New Frontier: A Marvel/DC One Universe RP

Or a dwarf. They're probably (even in Gotham) more likely to look for someone short before they go looking for a kid.

@Sep

Now I'm trying to imagine Warwick Davis cast in lieu of Jason Statham in something like The Transporter.

The New Frontier: A Marvel/DC One Universe RP

@Bounce Entry and Exit wound on the fourth(?) shot gives away the height and position more easily, along with the close range execution done after. Unless he was really lucky with blood splatter or took time to clean up after himself there's Heelys marks all over the table and your palm-heel's potentially going to leave some pretty interesting bruising post-mortem. Someone with the know-how could make a decent guess for weapon, position and size off of the decapitation itself too. He was done in thirty minutes, didn't miss a single shot and killed every gunman in the room before they could return fire, plus the knife's not bloodied.

So you've got size, weaponry, the high degree of training and also a decent guess at the age unless you're a little person who particularly enjoys Heelys footwear. Fingerprints and DNA would've been useless anyways, he's likely not in any databases, certainly not under an identity of any significance and it'd be ridiculous for them to run a paternity test off of Bruce Wayne just in case. XD

@Dblade26

A good bit of detail, but it still leaves the crime scene examiner with not much more than "kid" without any further identifying detail as to gender.

The Heelys were chosen to illustrate that he's 9-10 years old though.

The New Frontier: A Marvel/DC One Universe RP

@BounceBy the way, did you purposefully leave so many clues to Damian's existence in your post, or not?

@Dblade26

Not sure what you mean.

Damian was wearing gloves prior to loading the pistol, so the spent magazine wouldn't have his fingerprints. And the magazines were loaded in the case, so he didn't handle the bullets. So, forensically, the ballistics won't yield any evidence other than type of gun and maybe size of the shooter if they could triangulate -- except Damian's jumping around will present challenges for that.

If you meant in term of Damian being isolated and alone, then yes. I love when the writers allow Damian to be vulnerable, such as the first two pages of Robin #9.

The New Frontier: A Marvel/DC One Universe RP

_{"On His Demon Head's Secret Service" // Part 04 // [ Dami's iPod ]}

Bludhaven
Avalon Hills

He walked out the front door like he owned the place.

A plastic Target bag swung back and forth as he walked, the outline of a man's face pressed against the translucent walls. The faint hum of police sirens was on the wind, still a distance away as the boy approached the rented Volvo that was parked on the street in front of the home. Walking around to the back of the car, the child threw open the trunk to reveal a large Coleman ice chest inside the boot. Popping the top on the ice box, the boy slung the head down into the chilled chest before shutting the lid and then dropping the trunk.

♪...I'm a devious degenerate defender of the devil shut down all the trash compactors on the detention level.... My backpack's got jets... I'm Boba the Fett...♪

Head swaying from side to side, the boy mouthed in time to the rhythmn of MC Chris' rapping the chorus as he pulled open the passenger door and hopped into the back of the car.

His head snapped to the right sharply.

Good job, Damian... Well done, Damian... Excellent work, Mister al Ghul.

Yeah, that shit wasn't happening.

The stinging sensation didn't kick in for a few seconds after he'd been slapped. Defiantly, the boy brought his seething green eyes -- emeralds aglow with the baleful light of hell's fire -- up at the woman in the niqab who sat in the driver's seat. In many cultures, looking someone in the eye was a sign of aggression.

The boy's head snapped to the left with the backhand, the taste of blood hitting his tongue. She was yelling at him in Arabic. About how he took too long. About how he was lazy. Undisciplined. About the difference between a killer and an assassin. Or something about finesse, whatever. He really couldn't have said at that point. He was just staring up at the roof of the car and not really listening anymore.

As the car rolled away from the house, the boy slid over until he'd flopped over across the back seat. Watching the lights as they passed through the windows. His lips moving as he mouthed the question, Am I alive?

Reaching into his pocket, the boy pulled out the small MP3 player that supplied music to the ear buds propped into his ears. With a flick of his thumb, the child turned up the music until the world just seemed to drown out behind the noise.

The New Frontier: A Marvel/DC One Universe RP

Though really people are rarely defined as one alignment, people are three dimensional and nuanced.

@Gowi

This is why I almost always classify my characters as Chaotic Neutral, because they could be any of the alignments at any time depending on the particular stress and circumstances.

The exception is someone like Billy Batson or Kai-ro, where you'd have to Break the Cutie in order to get them to be anything other than Lawful Good. Hell, with Billy, you'd probably have to Break the Cutie to get him to swear worse than "Golly gee, Mister."¹

_{Though I do miss my Red Lantern version of Kai-ro. You guys should fear my ever introducing Atrocitus, because I think my Red Kai-ro was a stroke of brilliance.}

¹ _{Note: I refer to the pre-New 52 Billy here. I managed half an issue of New 52 Billy and haven't been back since. He's probably Neutral Evil from what I saw.}

The New Frontier: A Marvel/DC One Universe RP

@FacePunch This is actually how I think it ought to go.

@Sep I think it would be even better given that Billy is so famously good-hearted. If @Bounce ever picked up the Big Red Cheese again I think there'd be a lot of potential there.

@Morden Man

@Gowi and I actually discussed Billy, when I was developing the sheet that eventually developed into Kai-ro. It's difficult for me to not 'ulimate-ize' him though, because I find Billy Batson a thousand times more interesting than I do Captain Marvel/Shazaam and so my portrayals of Billy typically reflect that.

The New Frontier: A Marvel/DC One Universe RP

Not all of us enjoy the idea of grown men forcing children to wear tights and hang out with them.

@Lord Wraith

To be fair, Dick and Jason wore Underwear of Power in lieu of tights. So I'm guessing Bruce is more of a leg man.