History YMMV / BatmanEternal

** Stephanie Brown. When introduced, she stubles upon her father's role in the villains plot, and with that, discovers what is going on, forcing her father to attempt to kill her. She's forced to go on the run, unable to go home as her mother sells her out, and the only friend she could go to [[spoiler: is blown to kingdom come in the same issue they're introduced]]. During this time, she attempts to get word out by reporting on Cluemaster's activities onto a gossip blog, but noone believes her warnings and just laugh off her father's previous criminal activities. Eventually it seems the other users stop paying attention to her posts entirely when she tries using fake post titles to get attention, making her realize that now, she's completely alone. Its this realization that prompts her to finally don a costume and take down her father herself, but while she's able to take him down, her attempts to expose the full plan backfire, resulting in a million dollar bounty being placed on her head by the BigBad, forcing her to go on the run once more, this time with no place to hide. As with the pre-New 52 universe, despite these turn of events, [[ThePollyanna she continues to fight on, and is still able to joke and take this all in stride]].

* BadassDecay: Jason Bard seemed to be downgraded from MagnificentBastard rather quickly after the reveal of Hush.

* LesYay: Though Steph and Harper clash initially, they do find some common ground. The first thing they can agree on? How good Selina Kyle looked in her AbsoluteCleavage business suit.

** For some fans who were initially disappointed with ''ComicBook/{{New 52}}'' Bat family stories, this series is a WinBackTheCrowd moment. Others, however, have found the art and writing quality to be inconsistent, and do not like how each weekly issues jumps around from [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters character to character]] while tackling an [[FourLinesAllWaiting absurd number of subplots]].

** Stephanie Brown. When introduced, she stubles upon her father's role in the villains plot, and with that, discovers what is going on, forcing her father to attempt to kill her. She's forced to go on the run, unable to go home as her mother sells her out, and the only friend she could go to [[spoiler: is blown to kingdom come in the same issue they're introduced]]. During this time, she attempts to get word out by reporting on Cluemaster's activities onto a gossip blog, but noone believes her warnings and just laugh off her father's previous criminal activities. Eventually it seems the other users stop paying attention to her posts entirely when she tries using fake post titles to get attention, making her realize that now, she's completely alone. Its this realization that prompts her to finally don a costume and take down her father herself, but while she's able to take him down, her attempts to expose the full plan backfire, resulting in a million dollar bounty being placed on her head by the BigBad, forcing her to go on the run once more, this time with no place to hide.As with the pre-New 52 universe, despite these turn of events, [[ThePollyanna she continues to fight on, and is still able to joke and take this all in stride]].

* FunnyAneurysmMoment:

** Amusingly, inverted with Tim Drake and both Stephanie and Harper. The close relationship he developed with Harper is solidified as being just LikeBrotherAndSister, while his interaction with Stephanie basically amounts to one moment near the end that hinted at future ShipTease between them. As such, Tim and Harper's dynamic was generally well recieved, while people are wishing Tim and Steph got more time together (largely helped by their past as an OfficialCouple in the previous DCU).

** Lord Death Man's brief appearance is considered by many to be CrazyAwesome.

** [[ComicBook/BatmanTheCult Returning from the dead]], [[SinisterMinister Deacon Joseph Blackfire]] is responsible for the torture and brainwashing of countless members of Gotham's most desperate homeless population to form a [[ReligionOfEvil dark religion]] of HumanSacrifice. [[MindRape Torturing the minds]] of Arkham's residents, Blackfire possesses Maxie Zeus and attempts to build magic pillars of sacrifice to unleash demons to "cleanse" Gotham and plunge the city to literal hell. Returning later as a ghost, Blackfire tries to have his own young descendant murdered to possess the young boy's body.

* CompleteMonster: [[NotSoHarmlessVillain Arthur Brown]], aka [[TheChessmaster Cluemaster]], is revealed as the true mastermind behind the plot to destroy Gotham City. Hypnotizing Commissioner Gordon with Mad Hatter technology, Cluemaster influences him to cause a massive train collision that kills 162 people, and follows this up by contacting several of Batman's rogues and inviting them to come to Gotham and run wild, causing major damage to the city. When his daughter [[ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} Stephanie Brown]] learns of his plans, Cluemaster doesn't hesitate to try and [[OffingTheOffspring murder her]], even blowing up her friend to draw her out. Outfitting numerous supervillains with Wayne technology, Cluemaster sends them off to cause more mayhem, all of this merely a distraction to occupy the Bat-Family while he and his allies set all of Gotham aflame. Capturing Batman, Cluemaster reveals his intent to [[ForcedToWatch force him to watch]] as his city burns before Cluemaster kills him, while also revealing his motivation was mere bitterness over not being seen as an "A-list" villain.

* {{HSQ}}: Very high. Given that we ''know'' it's going to end with Gotham in flames, the story starts shocking and only goes from there.

* MagnificentBastard:
** [[spoiler: Jason Bard secures himself in this position; first by forcing Forbes to charge Falcone's men by having Vicky Vale around to report on any open displays of corruption, then taking down Falcone, Forbes, and Penguin, and damaging Hady's press, by using the previous act to get evidence of Fobres' working with Falcone and then tipping Penguin off to Falcone's location, resulting in all three being caught guilty. In #21, however, it turns out he's actually been playing ''everyone'' he's encountered, even Batman, and while Batman doesn't like him, he has no idea what he's actually doing.]]
** [[spoiler:Cluemaster also is revealed to be this, having masterminded the entire plot from just under Batman's nose because ''nobody'', readers and characters in the comic alike, would ever believe that [[NotSoHarmlessVillain C and D listers]] could possibly be the true threat of a conflict this widespread. But then he got his throat slashed by Lincoln March.]]

** Cluemaster cheerfully skips across the horizon for his whole appearance here. For one thing, he's ''way'' too quickly jumps to "gotta murder my daughter cause she caught me being a bad guy". In fairness, he doesn't ''want'' to kill Steph, [[YouHaveFailedMe but if he doesn't]], his superiors are going to kill ''him.'' ''However'', he retroactively crosses it again when it comes out that [[spoiler: he was the mastermind all-along, meaning it was ''his'' order to have her killed.]]
*** Not necessarily. Despite [[spoiler: being the mastermind behind everything]], he still received the order to kill Stephanie from his mysterious benefactor, later revealed to be [[spoiler:Lincoln March]]. We see this when Stephanie eavesdrop during one of their meeting and the shadowy figure bluntly tells Brown to get rid of his daughter if he can't get a hold of her.

** The reveal that [[spoiler: Cluemaster]] is the BigBad proved divisive from the comic's day of release. Some find it a fun {{Deconstruction}} of the large-scale Batman events and a great NotSoHarmlessVillain / CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass moment, while other thought it was a seriously anticlimatic AssPull. This got even worse when the following issue then has [[spoiler: Thomas Wayne Jr show up out of nowhere and kill Cluemaster and take his place.]]

** There's a split between those who think Gordon ''should'' be locked up for the train accident and those who, like the Bat Family, see him as not responsible. Mainly, regardless of seeing a gun or not, Gordon still tried to shoot the gun out of the perp's hand, which as well as being a dangerous shot, also breaks police protocol and was just generally a risky move that he shouldn't have done, along with the fact that the charge, "manslaughter", means that people died by accident from his actions, which is precisely what happened. However, its pointed out that the fusebox being shot shouldn't have caused the accident (backed up by the trains apparently already having trouble before Gordon fired the shot) and that its possible that whatever messed with his mind also made him think making such a shot was a good idea.

* BaseBreaker: Harper Row is a fan favorite in some circles and an annoying Mary Sue in others.

** There is a rather vocal dislike for Harper Row from certain segments of the fandom. See BaseBreaker and CreatorsPet for more.

* CharacterShilling: Harper Row gets a ''lot'' of this. She [[DoubleStandard gets praised for actions that the other Bat-family members have been chewed out for in the past]], and many characters, such as Sergei, start arbitrarily gushing about her within minutes of meeting her.
* ConflictBall: Stephanie trying to convince [[spoiler: Harper that Bruce Wayne is the one responsible for everything]] is this, and looks ready to stretch into ArcFatigue if it doesn't resolve itself. While its not been particularly long so far, it ''is'' frustrating to see the same scene played out twice, considering that it could easily be resolved by Harper just [[spoiler: pointing out that Bruce Wayne has recently lost everything and so couldn't be responsible for what's going on.]]