Thursday, October 5, 2017

Drawing Parallels: Arsenal and Bizarro

I couldn't help thinking about this when I was going over a subplot in the new series.

New 52 gave us a genius tech guy version of Roy Harper. During the first volume of RHATO and RHA we see Roy acting a certain way. For starters he tends to try and keep all his problems bottled up. This part of his behavior mainly happens in RHA. 
  • Roy handles his break up with Kori pretty hard. Curiously he's the one that decided to go lone wolf until Jason confronts him. Given the way the RHA series ends it's a neat twist.
  • We never see Roy talking to Jason about his resurfacing Titans memories. 
  • Roy never tells Jason about the Iron Rule before the final showdown. 
  • Jason tries to talk to Roy about his alcoholism early on but Roy never tells him how much he's struggling. Nor when he goes to see Killer Croc although Jason deduces that much.

He's clingy particularly around Jason something Jason noticed early on. Throughout RHA Roy acts irresponsible with their money and doesn't get input from his supposed partner. This is due to the stress he's under but he also seems determined to prove himself/his business idea to Jason. 
  • Back in the first RHATO series we learn along with Kori that Roy hacked into Jason's phone to hear his messages.
  • When Roy learns Batman "died" he's shocked that Jason didn't tell him since he knows the two are close. Jason didn't mention it because he was in denial.
  • Roy follows Jason at a distance later on and watches him interact with Bruce.

We sadly never find out if Jason ever discovered the invasion of his privacy. I have my own theory for Roy's behavior towards Jason. I don't think it just has to do with his own abandonment issues although that plays a part. I honestly think Roy was worried about Jason since he has a habit of getting into trouble and the fact he already died. It's interesting that Roy kept his own problems quiet but is upset when Jason does the same. 


Now we have Bizarro who recently had his own intelligence increased by Lex Luthor although the comic it's self makes it seem like he won't hold onto it for long. Much like Roy we see Bizarro creating all kinds of inventions though his are more useful. Bizarro himself seems to be keeping quiet on his own problems and inventing as much as he does because he knows his increased smarts won't last. He seems insecure about how valuable he will be to the team and is attempting to prove his worth while he can.

Previously Bizarro was much more open about his feelings. Jason asks him about his emotional state a few times and he answered honestly. There wasn't anything to really hide then but these talks also benefited Jason. The bond between the two of them is interesting for a number of reasons. (*1) Jason has stated that he's never felt closer to anyone before and he doesn't really have many guy friends. Roy had to break through a lot of walls he put up over the years for them to be great friends. Bizarro didn't really do anything in comparison.

While I do contribute much of Jason's current openness towards friendship to Roy and Kori I don't think it factored too much into his bond with Bizarro. I believe he'd still feel connected to the clone regardless thanks to what they have in common. But back to Bizarro's behavior he's also invading privacy just not his teammates. At least not that we know of. Unlike Roy we've seen Bizarro actively keep some important information from Jason. When Ma Gunn found letters from Willis Todd she wanted to give them to his son. She tells Bizarro about it and he sends her away telling her that Jason needs to focus on the mission.

The potential drama over Roy's actions is gone but there could be some horrible fallout from what Bizarro did. Not just what he's doing to improve Jason's mission (which his teammates already have misgivings with) but the fact he kept something personal from Jason. Those letters are a potential time bomb that could open up old wounds. Not only those related to his relationship with Willis but controlling what Jason knows also happened with Bruce. At least in old canon when he kept Jason in the dark about Willis' death.

Needless to say Jason would not be pleased with having someone decide what he needs to know about his own personal history. What Bizarro did is arguable worse than Roy keeping tabs on Jason. Roy never kept anything information that was related to Jason from him. I'm still undecided if Jason knew about the phone tapping and following as I could see him pretending he didn't notice. At the moment Jason has a bit of a blind spot with Bizarro. He's previously seen him as a potential threat because Artemis showed him how other clones turned out. But Jason's also moved past that to see Bizarro grow and has been so proud of him. That makes the possible impact all the more worse.

Not just on an emotional level but it also shows that Bizarro is doing something morally questionable. That poses a bigger threat level than anything Roy has done since this means Bizarro is as powerful as Superman, (temporarily?) a super genius and thinks he can control what those close to him know. He's already had trouble seeing Jason and Artemis' arguments against invading others lairs. Worse he automatically assumes there's nothing wrong with what he's doing. Believing he knows best and being a tad to proactive.



(*1) Jason immediately relates to Bizarro since their both pressured to be other people. Dick Grayson ans Superman respectively. Then Jason makes a connection during Bizarro's "birth" to his own rebirth in the Lazarus Pit. He sees his own struggles of identity, finding a place in the world as well as being viewed as a "monster."

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