Somebody died when they weren't supposed to, and the world went slightly sideways as a result. The only thing that stayed the same in both is the people. Sort of...

This is the character page for Cranes.

open/close all folders

Gotham

The City of Gotham is a dark city with equally dark history. People can rise to the top or die in the streets here... It's also cursed, but everyone knew that.

Genius Loci: The Gotham Narrows- a particularly malevolent one.
Indian Burial Ground: When the one Gotham's founding families, the Arkhams, bought the land that would become Arkham Manor (later Arkham Asylum) it wasn't a burial ground but the land was said to be cursed.
No OSHA Compliance: The Gotham skyline while beautiful and distinct is very dangerous and confusing for the residents.
Sealed Evil in a Can: There's a demon trapped under the city- and has been for as long as the place existed.
Swamps Are Evil: The area where Arkham Asylum and the Narrows reside was originally a cursed swamp.
Water Source Tampering: Along with the many other chemicals criminals used to poison the Gotham city water supply, it has also also poisoned by a leak in a Lazarus Pit. Edward Nigma's father attempted to fix the problem by making a water generator to dilute the poison.

Batclan

Originally consisting only of Batman and his butler, it grew with the adoption of Johnny Crane and Dick Grayson. It's continuing to grow as Bruce adopts several dangerously trained and competent children- more pop out of the woodwork every day.

Famous Ancestor: The Russian Waynes were a branch of royalty that immigrated to the region that is now Gotham.
Law of Inverse Fertility: Bruce and Selina only met once when they were nineteen and Selina got pregnant afterward.
Undercover as Lovers: A pre-Batman Bruce and a rookie Selina grabbed each other to disguise themselves as a couple to escape their handlers/pursers. Few hours later, Damian Marcus Kyle Wayne was concieved.

Alfred Thaddeus Crane Pennyworth

Butler and guardian of Bruce Wayne, (former) secret agent and loving father, uncle and grandfather.

Luke, You Are My Father: Found out he had a nephew when the London police called him to pick him up.
Retired Badass: Retired from the Royal Air Forces, yes, from badassery, no.
Servile Snarker: Taught Dick everything about snarking.

Jonathan Nathaniel Pennyworth Crane (Somewhere around 17 - 20 years old)/Scarecrow

Was given a second chance after a cosmic filing accident which was much more meta than it would first appear- he died before his time and was reincarnated. He is called Johnny Crane and is the shy first son of the Bat Clan and associate (not sidekick, ever) of Batman. Has three actually four, personalities named Johnny, Doc and Scarecrow and Scarebeast

Abusive Parents: His grandmother died of sheer meaness
Bait-and-Switch Comment: In the opener, he tells Aqualad and Speedy that he hates vigilante groups...like the KKK, NRA, the Black Panthers and the IRS.
Bargain with Heaven: It got him reincarnated as himself but later in the timeline
Creepy Good: Everyone, hero or villain, is creeped out by him.
The Dreaded: Everyone's afraid of Scarecrow. Everyone.
Finger in the Mail: Mailed Queen Bee's liver back to her by square inch
Good Is Not Soft: While he is a good guy, he can go to certain...extremes
Happily Adopted: Is a happy member of the Bat Clan
In Touch with His Feminine Side: Scarebeast embodies his feminine side
Insanity Immunity: Probably why he's immune to Queen Bee.
Knight Templar Big Brother: Broke Riddler's legs for kidnapping Robin
Mad Scientist: Experiments with his fear toxins.
A Minor Kidroduction: The new Johnny Crane was introduced as a child breaking out of an orphanage.
Muscles Are Meaningless: Subverted- he does have muscles, they are just very lean.
No-Sell: Queen Bee's pheromone power didn't work on him. At all.
Samus Is a Girl: Scarebeast is Scarecrow's female personality
Single-Target Sexuality: Is Permafrost-sexual so far.
Speech Impediment: Johnny has a terrible stutter that gets worse when he's calm. When he gets scared or angry he speaks very articulately.
Split Personality: Johnny has three with Johnny, The Doc, and Scarecrow four with Scarebeast.
Talking to Themself: The author refers to him as The Boys, and portrays them as a split-personality.
Thou Shalt Not Kill: Scarecrow cannot kill in cold blood as it is part of his deal to remain alive. He makes it so that people wish he would.

Richard John Grayson (13 years old)/Robin

After his parents were killed by Anthony Zucco, he became the second son of the Wayne family. When he found out Batman's secret identity he became Batman's sidekick, Robin.

The Tease: Constantly flirted and strung along girls. Resulted in his crush not wanting to deal with him.

Bruce Wayne (29 years old)/Batman

The patriarch of the Batclan, and... a bit oblivious to certain consequences of his actions.

Fantastic Racism: Batman hates metahumans and makes this fact very clear, so much so that it's one of the things that is generally known by the public about Batman. Batman's racism is so intense, and so notorious, that Gotham City is considered one of the worst cities in America in which to be a meta-human. The local nickname for a powered individual is "Deader-Than" — that should spell out just how bad it is.
Good Parent: He has his quirks and his flaws, but he genuinely is a good and loving paternal figure.
Hidden Depths: In-Universe with his Brucie persona: he is a shallow playboy, but adopted many children and is a loving father.
Parents as People: While Bruce can be very awkward around his kids, it doesn't stop him from being a loving father.

Maureen Conners (16 years old)/Permafrost

Was once part of Haley's Circus, Maureen ran away from Social Services after her father lost custody of her. She decided to look out for the Gotham Narrows herself- and gets the occasional backup from Scarecrow, Batman, and Robin. She is the shy first daughter of the Batclan.

Berserk Button: Don't take her picture of her mother
Clothing Damage: When Scarecrow got her out of ice, her clothing did not make it.
Death by Origin Story: Maureen's mother died in the Bang Baby Gas Incident in Dakota city
Destructive Savior: Her ice powers cause a lot of property damage.
Friend to All Children: The protector of the children of the Narrows.
Harmless Freezing: Subverted Twice, she killed her father with her powers while under mind control and had to immediately be chipped out when she was frozen.
Mundane Utility: Uses her ice to make herself a bedroom.
Required Secondary Powers: Played With, can withstand temperatures below freezing, cannot withstand being frozen.
Self-Made Orphan: Accidently killed her father.

Jason Todd Wayne (3 years old)/Red Hood

Intended to be CADMUS's replacement for Batman, he was rescued along with Wonder Girl Red and Superboy. Distinct from the others for still being a toddler while the other clones were artificially aged to teenagers. That's because he's not a clone. Adopted as the third son of the Bat Clan.

Fearless Infant: Jason remains asleep throughout the CADMUS breakout.
Half-Identical Twins: He is the twin brother of Lian Harper
Loophole Abuse: Most of the assassins didn't want to kill him, so when Scarecrow's antidote turned him into a black-haired golden skinned child, they bailed because their hit was on a red-headed freckled child.

Damian Alexander al Ghul (10 years old)/Kid Shiva

Formerly one of best trained assassins in the League of Shadows, he defected to the Stray Cats and ended up joining the Bat Clan.

Defusing The Tykebomb: Sought Cassandra Cain's help in defusing himself.
Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Abandoned his life as an assassin when he realized his mother saw him as disposable.
Tyke-Bomb: Was an assassin for the League of Shadows.

Stray Cats

A gang of child thieves that came together to survive and make a home in the streets of Gotham; notable for the fact that only one of them is over the age of twelve.

Honor Among Thieves: They are close and loyal friends.
Little Miss Badass: All of them, with props going to Cassandra evading assassins for years.
Promotion to Parent: Carrie, Stephanie and Cassandra raised a baby Tim after finding him on the streets.
Run Away Hide Away: The Stray Cats made an abandoned ice cream factory their home until it exploded.

Damian Marcus Kyle (10 years old)/Catboy

Son of Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne- he's actually a caring little dude.

It Runs in the Family: He's a cat burglar like his mom.
Heroic Bastard: Illegitimate son of Bruce and Selina.

Cassandra Cain (6 years old)/Black Cat

A cute young girl with a powerful technical mind and a love of engineering- in all it's forms.

Defusing The Tykebomb: She defused herself after her first and only assassination.
Resignations Not Accepted: The League of Shadows continue to try to capture or kill her. She's evaded them for years.
Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training: Trained since birth for assassination at the cost of basic social skills; she's managed to pick up those skills anyway after running away.
Tyke-Bomb: She was an ex-assassin.

Timothy Drake (somewhere between 2 and 5 years old)/Red Robin

A little boy of undetermined age- who was kidnapped, found, and taken in by a gang of thieves.

Moses in the Bulrushes: the Stray Cats found him as a toddler next to the dead bodies of his kidnappers. His father had him kidnapped for safety reasons.

Fawcett

A city half-stuck in a perpetual timewarp/fairytale, Fawcett is a beautiful place to visit- and a bizarre place to live.

William "Billy" Batson (10 years old)/Captain Marvel

A ten year old boy with a good soul and phenomenal power.

Do Well, But Not Perfect: He does good in school to pass, but doesn't do 'too' well so as not to attract attention from teachers.
Homeless Hero: Billy squats in an abandoned building and eats bad food thrown away by grocery stores. Deconstructed in that Billy suffers a number of health problems due to his poor shelter and diet. He gets better.
The Pollyanna: Remains optimistic and tries to make the best of his bad situation.

William Hayes (Formerly 16 years old)/ Secret

An older brother is still and older brother- even if he's dead.

Big Brother Instinct: Vowed to protect and help his sister, even from herself.
Heroic Sacrifice: What caused him to become Secret in the first place, to stop his sister
I Have No Son!: Declares his sister Greta to be dead after ridding the influence of the Sword of Beowolf
Jacob Marley Apparel: Died in a tracksuit
Pokémon Speak: Can only say "Secret" to non-magical people, magical people can understand just fine
Promotion to Parent: Raised Greta after their mother died.

Greta Hayes (14 years old)/ Harm

A little sister with some serious issues.

Empty Shell: Her fate after removing the power of The Sword of Beowolf
Gollum Made Me Do It: Harm is an evil personality of Greta's.
Superpower Meltdown: She lost the powers of the Sword of Beowolf when Secret made her feel guilt.
What Is This Feeling?: Harm is made of anger, greed, and pure evil, feeling anything besides them causes her to lose her power over Greta.

Metropolis

Conner Kent/Kon-El/Superboy II

A walking weirdness magnet- he has a strange effect on animals.

Clones Are People, Too: Has less angst than canon due to Superman accepting him
Pet the Dog: Goes on a date with Hartley after Hartley's boyfriend dumps him on the day of Summer Prom.
Relatively Flimsy Excuse: Poses as Clark's younger brother

Clark Kent/Kal-El/Superboy I/Superman

Clones Are People, Too: While he doesn't see Superboy as his son, he does him as family.

Cat Grant

A delightful homemaker... on paper. A grungy Gonk in real life.

Oblivious to Love: Unaware of Jimmy's affection, he took her out on dates and she wasn't aware they were dates.

Alexander "Sandy" Luthor

A young man desperate to get out of his father's shadow.

Fake Band: Subverted- he's really in an actual music playing band with his friends.

Central/Dervish/Keystone

A trio of cities that are... rather weird, if you've never been there before. Very fast paced places.

Flash Family

A large related group of speedsters who love to help out.

Lia Hélène West-Allen (8 years old 13 after the time warp)/Tangent

First daughter of Barry Allen and Iris West, cousin of Wally West, and annoying as hell. Got thrown back in time for five years, and is now a teenager.

The Friend Nobody Likes: No one likes her because she's annoying and she knows it.
I Just Want to Be Special: Wants to seen as special, but doesn't appear to be.
Overshadowed by Awesome: Not as smart as her cousin and not as impressive as her father.

Wallace Matthias West (15 years old)/Kid Flash

The oldest young speedster of the Flash Family, and the fastest boy alive.

Incompatible Orientation: Is straight, but the bisexual Dick Grayson has a crush on him.
The Smart Guy: The scientist of his team, met Robin in Mathletes competition

Rudolph West-Apressar

Husband of Mary West and Stepfather of Wally.

Wicked Stepmother: Inverted, Wallace Mathias West had an abusive deadbeat biological father, his stepfather Rudolph West-Apressar is a loving father, uncle, and husband.

Dervishers

Dervish is a city that exists both in a vast hidden valley, and in an area three square blocks around, located geographically between Central and Keystone. Notable for having it's own ruling houses, a complex political structure, being home to a gigantic menagerie of mythical creatures, a tourist spot for Anthropomorphic Personifications, and for having a giant sentient cheese as a Judge. It is a tornado twenty-thousand feet high and five miles wide.

Klarion le Garçon Aux Sorcières (16 to 20 years old- technically.)

A Lord of Chaos and Sorcerer. Less amoral than his canon self. Becames King of Dervish after Nabu killed his parents, the previous monarchs. Is mostly immortal.

Loophole Abuse: Needed a queen to crown him to become king, so he asks Perdita to crown him. She does on the condition he heals her heart condition.

Teekl le Chat (4 years old- sort of.)

A sweet, catty young woman. Is much older than Klarion, even though they are relativly the same ages.

Humanity Ensues: She is a cat in the material world, and a humanoid in the real world.
Pet the Dog: Calms down a distaught Mark Mardon
Voluntary Shapeshifter: Turns herself into a cat.

Mark Mardon/Weather Wizard

A young Knight of Dervish, he is struggling to learn to control his new powers under the tutelage of his Aunt Kismet.

Unexpected Successor: He became the new liaison to Dervish when his brother Clyde committed suicide... Or Did He?

Mordru le Infame

The former King of Dervish, and a nasty piece of work.

Child Eater: Shown to kidnap and eat children.
I'm a Humanitarian: He also cooks it for his family, much to Klarion's dismay

Rogues

A group of grey-hats that are based in Keystone.

Hartley Rathaway Lane/Pied Piper

Freak Out: After getting dumped on the night of Summer Prom.
Offscreen Breakup: Faced the brunt of one the day before Prom, he appropriately freaked out.
You Never Did That for Me: Notices Conner is different from his ex, Hunter, in that Conner is willing to show affection.

James Jesse/Trickster

A young man who doesn't know who he is, but at the same time, does.

Composite Character: His real name is Giovanni Zatara.
Gadgeteer Genius: Turned a ballroom of the Vlatvia Royal Palace into an anti-gravity chamber to entertain the kids.

Star City/Platinum Flatts

Star City is just like Gotham- only backwards. If that makes any sense. (It doesn't.) Platinum Flatts is like Austin, TX- it's primarily a college town with a lively city aspect.

Department of Redundancy Department: Almost all the buildings and landmarks in Star City have the word "Star" in front of it to inform people that they are in Star City.
Red Light District: There's a rather famous one under Star Bridge aka The Milky Way Bridge.
Small Town Rivalry: The people of Gotham and Star City for many reasons: the historical rivalry between the original architects of both cities, streets being made the opposite direction of each other which confuses visiting Gothamites or visiting Starries, the general loathing the cities themselves have for each other... the list is endless.

Roy Harper II/Red Arrow

A heroic archer in a loving, stable relationship with Kaldur. He is also a clone created by CADMUS.

Hot-Blooded: is more excitable in this incarnation
Inconvenient Summons: Send to the world of adults while intimate with Kaldur. Kaldur was pissed
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He can be an ass, but truly cares about his friends
No-Respect Guy: He wants to be respected as a hero rather than join the Young Justice.

Oliver Queen/Green Arrow

A lovable doofus, with communication issues.

Parents as People: Didn't understand why Roy was so angry and failed to communicate with him.

Birds of Prey

An internationally renowned team of Cheerleaders/Rollerderbists. They are also a (technically) all female super-group.

Helena Bertinelli/The Huntress

Parental Substitute: Serves as a mother figure to Artemis.
Thou Shall Not Kill: Subverted, one of the few heroes to use lethal force when necessary

Artemis Crock/Artemis/ Dana Tan/ Alice

A beautiful young woman who is running from her past.

Composite Character: Is canon Artemis but is also Dana Tan
The Dog Bites Back: Accidentally killed her father by melting his brain with one of her acid arrows.
Dye Hard: Artemis changes her hair various colors every two weeks or so.
Dye or Die: She dyes her hair to not match her description.
Guile Heroine: Artemis, who at the age of ten made and followed a two-year plan to escape her father's clutches.
Real Name as an Alias: Justified Artemis uses the alias, Dana Tan, for her civilian identity while Artemis is her superhero name and seems to be a themed-name with her mentor, the Huntress.
Retail Therapy: Artemis made thrifting part of her escape plan, and enjoyed herself while doing it.
The Runaway: Run away from her father after reading a pamphlet on the criteria on an abusive relationship. Her father completely matched the description
Thou Shall Not Kill: Implied to subvert this when dealing with the League of Shadows operatives looking for her

Lian Harper Tan/Speedy III/ Alice II

Luke, You Are My Father: her parents are Jade Nguyen and Roy Harper I
Tyke-Bomb: Was a League of Shadows assassin- although she's never actually killed anyone.

Atlantis

Atlantis is an empire with many city-states- there are seven large, influential ones, and multiple smaller ones scattered the world over.

Down on the Farm: The region of Shayeris is mostly farmland.
Fantastic Racism: Blonde hair is the mark of Kordax, which signifies the ability to telepathically control animal/and or plants, which is a major taboo. The racism varies from region to region.
Our Mermaids Are Different: Can vary from looking superficially human to having a fish tail, or like creatures from the Black Lagoon- it varies from place to place.

Sha’laina

Kaldur's Mother is a lovely woman- er, mermaid.

Parents Know Their Children: Realized her son was gay before he did.

Kaldur'ahm/Aqualad

Apprenticed to Aquaman, Kaldur moved to the surface world for his year's furlough- where he found love in a surface-dweller, Roy. He's now pregnant and engaged to wed.

Call to Agriculture: While he enjoys being Aqualad, he plans to someday go back and run his ancestral farmland with Roy.
Farm Boy: Raised on a farm until he was drafted into the Altanian Armed Forces.
Gender Bender: His body has become female to get pregnant- but Kaldur himself is still very much a boy.
Humble Goal: He wants a husband, a family, and his farm to be prosperous.
Mister Seahorse: Subverted- his biology turned him into a woman to get pregnant.
Momma's Boy: Has a close and loving relationship with his mother, and investigated an art smuggling case because the smuggler's route was over his mother's backyard.

Vlatvia

A mountainous, ornery kingdom, filled with rivers, clouds, and rainbows.

Persona Non Grata: Due their history with the Russian Waynes, all Waynes are banned from ever setting foot on Vlatvia

Queen Bernice Camilla Edwardine Georgette Maria Danielle Perdita Vertigo/Logistica

Badass Bookworm: She had a lot of time where she couldn't do anything, so she read a lot of books.
A Child Shall Lead Them
Mundane Utility: Besides crimefighting she uses her duplication to rule her country.
Self-Duplication: Has the power of duplication.

Count Warner David Edward Mark Keenes Vertigo/Count Vertigo

Perdita's uncle and Count of Vlatvia, formerly part of the Light.

Driven to Suicide: How the Trickster found out the adults were back? He found the body.
Never Suicide: Turns out to have been killed by the Light for his incompetence.
Wanting Is Better Than Having: As he found out the hard way when he had to rule in Perdita's place when all the children were gone.

Paradise Island/Themyscira

A lovely island that is run under a Feudal system of laws, Themyscira is full of wild animals and demons that will hunt you down to tear your throat out, dangerous terrain, and mystical convergences. Wonderful, isn't it?

Diana/ Wonder Woman

First Princess of Themyscira.

Dead Guy Junior: Named after an American WWII pilot named Diana Trevor, who crashlanded onto Thymescra and later died to save them.

Danae "Donna"/ Wonder Girl Blue

Second Princess of Thymescira.

Age Is Relative: Actually two years younger than Wonder Woman, but is still a teenager.
Green-Eyed Monster: Jealous of Cass's wonder of Paradise Island and outsiderhood.
Only Known by Their Nickname: Her name is actually Danae, but a two-year old Wonder Woman couldn't pronounce it.
Small Town Boredom: Really wants to be off of Paradise Island.

Cassandra "Cass"/ Wonder Girl Red

The Third Princess of Themyscira, and Wonder Woman's clone... or so it is assumed.

Clones Are People, Too: Is being raised and trained on Paradise Island.
Mundane Luxury: Played with; while Themyscera is not usual, it is mundane to Donna and luxurious to Cassie.
Puppy-Dog Eyes: Used them to sway the G-nomes to release Jason from CADMUS.

Belle Reeve (Not Reve, Reeve. They actually mean the same thing.)

A ridiculosly high-security prison located in some of the most hellish swampland in the world.

Cameron Mahkent/Icicle Jr.

A man with a five year plan, daddy issues, and a boatload of misinformation.

Battle Couple: With Artemis
Sex Equals Love: Believed he had to marry Artemis in order to have sex with her, Artemis tells him that's not the case.
Unable to Support a Wife: Artemis says she will give him the time of day once he gets out of prison, has his own home and a steady income.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: It's why he fights Ravager depowered and injured.

Thomas Tferore/Tommy Terror

A likeable enough guy... so far.

Back-Alley Doctor: It's implied that he performed an appendectomy on Cameron.

Others- they aren't exactly affiliated with anyone, but...

M'gann/Miss Martian

A young martian woman with many issues, and incredible self-control.

Child Soldier: Was a child spy- still considers herself one.
Sole Survivor: Was the last White Martian left on Mars, when the rest were taken to the Void Zone.

Ace/ Alice Roquette

Blessed with Suck: Her powers are too much for her mind and body to handle; she had to be put into a medical coma so that she could recover.

League of Shadows

A sneaky, shady group of assassins dedicated to getting paid.

Would Hurt a Child: Will put a hit on a child.
Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Most of the better assassins would rather not kill small children.

Jade Nguygen/Cheshire

Mother of two, world class assassin, poisoner, swordswoman, older sister, and a Taoist.

Mommy Had A Good Reason For Abandoning You: had to leave behind her children, Lian and Jason in hope of them giving them a better life
Teen Pregnancy: Had one in the past, with Roy Harper I

Lawerence Crock/Sportsmaster/ Deathstroke

Terry McGinnis /Red X

No Infantile Amnesia: Subverted, he's been with the League so long, he barely remembers his mother

Roy Harper I/Speedy

The original Speedy, father of Lian Harper and Jason Todd, believed to be dead.

Martial Pacifist: Doesn't believe in violence and planned to leave the League

The Light

A group of unknown people with a distinctly nefarious purpose.

Would Hurt a Child: Killed the original Guardian and the Newsboy League for knowing too much.

Characters / Cranes

Edit Locked