DCEU Exchange: Dear Author

AO3: Panny

Hello, dear author, and thank you so much for writing for me! I have tried to leave you at least a general idea of what I like about each canon and what I might be interested in reading for them. Some canons may have more written than others depending on how much I had to say and how many specific ideas I had (and how much I had to copy over from previous letters), but rest assured that I want all of them desperately and look forward to whatever you create!

If I've left prompts that don't speak to you, don't worry about it! There are plenty of things that I enjoy that I haven't specifically prompted for (and there's a reason that I leave a list of general likes) and I want you to write something that you enjoy and find exciting. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me through the mods. I try to be speedy about replying and never mind clarifying.

As a general note, I'm not especially interested in porn for porn's sake for my M/M ships, but I'm down for sex scenes as a part of character building or for the purposes of relationship development. I'm a lot more keen on something that focuses on the emotions/internal thoughts during the moment than the physical descriptions of the smut in general.

As a general note for handling canon Lois/Clark for conflicting pairings: I'm fine with either amicable break up, hand-waving the relationship, or just glossing over it/not mentioning it.


Clickable Table of Contents
➳General Likes
➳General DNWs
➳Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne
➳Helena Bertinelli/Renee Montoya
➳Dinah Lance/Renee Montoya
➳Lois Lane/Renee Montoya
➳Vic Sage
➳Renee Montoya & Vic Sage
➳Clark Kent/Vic Sage
➳Vic Sage/Bruce Wayne

General Likes:

♥ Tropey goodness, taken as seriously or as silly as you like.

♥ Protectiveness.

♥ Loyalty.

♥ Conflict.

♥ Hurt/comfort.

♥ Messy, complicated relationships where no one person is necessarily "better" than the other.

♥ Characters who are normally in control very much not being that.

♥ Canon divergence/for want of a nail AUs.

♥ Self-destructive tendencies.

♥ Mind games and mutually dangerous people engaging in cat-and-mouse scenarios.

♥ Badass in distress.

♥ Competency and cleverness

♥ Identity porn and related scenarios.

♥ "Good guys" being driven to do shady, questionable things in the pursuit of their goals/righteous ideals.

♥ Morally bankrupt bad guys falling in love and doing things that screw over their agenda or leave them vulnerable because they care about one particular person.

♥ Emotion-driven desperation.

♥ When two people rest their foreheads together and it's super intimate.

♥Women pinning other women against walls.

♥ Role swaps.

♥ Time loops.

♥ Superheroes.

♥ Fairy tales.

♥ Dragons and/or robots.

♥ Hair ruffling.

General DNWs:

✘ Non-canonical (permanent) major character death; character death as part of a Groundhog Day scenario or where the other half of the ship goes on a quest to revive them or etc. is totally fine.

✘ Torture.

✘ Mutilation. Description of/reference to existing canon injuries would be fine. New injuries resulting in a new scar or something would also be fine, particularly considering the type of characters we're dealing with. Canon-typical levels of violence are fine as a general rule.

✘ Issue fic.

✘ Terminal illness.

✘ Mundane AUs (e.g. coffee shop, high school, no powers, etc.).

✘ Non-con.

✘ Age play.

Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne

I have grown very fond of this grizzled, experienced Bruce Wayne who has already been through a lot, but is only now learning to cope with superhumans on both sides of the hero-villain line. There’s also something to be said for DCEU!Supes having a fairly troubled rise to heroism and going through a lot in a relatively short period of time culminating in dying and then coming out the other end of Justice League as the most hopeful version of the character we’ve seen in this continuity so far. I’m also pretty into just how quickly and intensely the relationship between these two develops both as enemies and then as friends - they know each other for such a short period of time, but the feelings are so much!
 

Prompts:

·       Post-Justice League

I’m always interested in seeing fic exploring what might happen between Bruce and Clark after Justice League. How do things change between them now that Clark’s resurrected – as teammates, as tentative friends, as two people who maybe eventually get out of their own way long enough to become more than friends? What sort of threats do they have to face going forward – as a team, as partners, as individuals? How does the formation of the League and everything they’ve both been through affect their roles as Batman and Superman?

·       Canon Divergence

You can set the divergence at pretty much any point in the DCEU and I will be happy; I am constantly fascinated by different interpretations of how things might have turned out differently for want of a nail. What if they met before Clark became Superman? What if Clark followed his interest in the Bat vigilante directly to Gotham City? What if they somehow encountered one another during or immediately after Black Zero instead of Bruce being left to stew in his guilt/rage for two years? What if the first meeting between Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent went differently? What if Bruce figured out who Clark was before the end of Batman v Superman? What if Clark caught on to Luthor sooner? What if Clark survived facing down Doomsday? What if Bruce (temporarily) died instead? What if Clark was resurrected in a different way? What if Clark was resurrected at a different point? The sky’s the limit!

 

·       Identity Porn

Identity porn is one of my favourite tropes for superhero canons and I’ll never get enough of AUs exploring it for DCEU SuperBat. The messier the crisscross of feelings between identities, the better.

 

·       Bruce Whump

Hurt/comfort is a diehard favourite of mine and I always love any version of Bruce Wayne getting a good dose of whump, but I especially love DCEU!Bruce whump. I’m open to pretty much any source of potential pain – emotional, physical, magical, spiritual – and I’m equally happy with the target being Bruce Wayne or Batman (or Bruce throwing himself between another target and danger in a fit of self-sacrifice and desperation, as you do). I have a number of my favourite sources of h/c listed in my Hurt/Comfort Ex letter, but don’t feel restricted by those – there are plenty of others that I enjoy!



Helena Bertinelli/Renee Montoya

The DCEU is a constant gift of surprising new dynamics for my long-cherished comics ships. Now, I love Renee and Helena's partnership whenever they team up in the comics (that moment in Pipeline where Helena chokes Renee out because Renee can't sacrifice herself if Helena does it first? That's my whole #aesthetic), but I am also absolutely stoked by how different their partnership is set up to be in the DCEU! Renee meets Helena when she's still a young, relatively unestablished vigilante, who will have to figure what that means for her now that she's finally satisfied her revenge. Renee is older and only just leaving the force, not because she's reached the breaking point after a pile up of horrific events culminating in one of the defining tragedies of her life and leaving her in a position where she neither trusts the Gotham PD to be able to achieve justice nor does she trust herself to know what justice should look anymore, but because she's decided the Gotham PD is bullshit and she's much happier teaming up with Helena and Dinah to take a different path with the Birds of Prey. I'm so fascinated by the idea of what their new dynamic is going to look like and where their paths might lead them now, you really can't go wrong.

Prompts:

Helena trains Renee

So, in the comics, both of these characters are mentored by Vic and get combat training with Richard Dragon as a result (who is the guy for vigilantes to go to when they want to take their ass kicking to the next level, but the important part is that there's a precedent for commonalities in their fighting styles). DCEU!Helena still gets a backstory badass training montage, but while DCEU!Renee is a capable combatant, Helena is clearly on another level. So, Renee gets Helena to help her up her game. If it leads to sexual tension filled sparring, all the better.


Forming the Birds of Prey

I'd love to pick up from their character arcs in canon. At what point do they decide to form the team--whose idea is it, does anyone have any reservations, how do they decide on the name? How does Helena's persona as Huntress develop now that her focus has shifted? How does Renee perceive her own career change? How do they function as a team and is there ever any conflict over how they carry out their brand of justice (up to and including the "do heroes kill" debate)? What are the early days of their team dynamics like? How does the relationship between these two develop first to friends and then to more than friends?


Renee investigating the Crossbow Killer

I was super delighted by the realization that Renee was investigating Helena's kill and I would be totally down for a canon divergence scenario where she wasn't immediately sidetracked by Harley's explosive relationship status update. Helena has a specific idea of who she wants Huntress to be and how she wants people to see her. Renee sees her far more clearly than anyone else before they even meet. I'd love to see Renee working to track her down and Helena working to stay one step ahead. Is it enemies (to tentative allies if they both realize that their best chance of taking down Roman is together?) to lovers? Is it identity porn? Is it slow seduction and increasing steps over the line as Renee, potentially keeping her comic counterpart's fascination with/admiration for vigilantes and predictable reaction to hot ass-kicking women, finds herself increasingly frustrated with her place in the force and agreeing with Helena's idea of justice more than she thought she would?



Dinah Lance/Renee Montoya

I'm going to be saying that I love Rosie Perez's Renee a lot, but Jurnee Smollett-Bell's Dinah was a delight and she has run away with my heart. I think one of the interesting things about the potential dynamic between these two is that while they're all relatively fresh on the scene, Helena is actually the only vigilante with any experience on the team. Dinah and Renee both have a plethora of skills that they can bring to the table, but they've just made the choice to jump on board the superhero train. Whereas Helena has been practicing her "they call me Huntress" into the mirrors for a while now, they still have to explore what this change means for their identities and what it is that they want to do and be. Dinah's mother's history and Dinah's resulting resentment toward the GCPD is also a very interesting angle that I am very much down for leaning into.

Prompts:

Forming the Birds of Prey

I'd love to pick up from their character arcs in canon. At what point do they decide to form the team--whose idea is it, does anyone have any reservations, how do they decide on the name? How does Dinah feel about Black Canary becoming a superhero, especially with how much the use of her powers is wrapped up in her feelings about her mother? How does Renee perceive her own career change? How do they function as a team and is there ever any conflict over how they carry out their brand of justice (up to and including the "do heroes kill" debate)? What are the early days of their team dynamics like? How does the relationship between these two develop first to friends and then to more than friends?


Mission Fic

Early investigations when the Birds of Prey are just getting established, later investigations once their team dynamic has had some time to settle. What kind of cases do they take on? How do they encounter them? What role does each of them play and how do they play off of each other? Tension filled situations like hurt/comfort, trapped in a dangerous situation together, rescue missions, undercover missions, etc. are all encouraged.


Training/Sparring

I'm all about sexual tension filled training sessions while the two of them work to refine their fighting styles and teamwork.



Renee Montoya/Lois Lane

The comics version of this ship piqued my interest in Greg Rucka's Lois Lane run. The two of them collaborating on an investigation, complete with Renee flirting...yeah, okay, I'm into it. I really like Rosie Perez's Renee and I really like Amy Adams's Lois and they're two characters I'd really like to see more of in general. DCEU!Lois has had QUITE the number of experiences since meeting Clark, but she hasn't been around the superhero block nearly as many times as comics!Lois has by Rucka's run. DCEU!Renee is older than her comics counterpart and actually has more (if less recognized) experience as an officer, but she's relatively new to the vigilante schtick as opposed to the very-comfortable-as-Question version of Renee featured in Lois Lane. I'd love to see what kind of dynamic would develop between these versions of the characters. And this is one of those situations where the DCEU having way less character history to account for when trying to smush a ship together is a feature, not a bug for me.

Prompts:

Team Up

Much like their team up in the comics, I'd love to see DCEU!Lois hire DCEU!Renee to help her with an investigation that she doesn't want to involve Clark in. How do their different principles and methodologies play off each other? Where do they work well together and where do they disagree? How much trouble do they drag each other into and how do they wriggle out of it by the skin of their teeth?


Meeting on a Case

Alternatively, maybe Renee (with or without the Birds of Prey) and Lois wind up looking into the same thing and meet while the investigation is already under way. Do they work together? Do they work against each other? How much trouble do they both get into?


Lois investigates Gotham Vigilantes

First the Justice League, then the Shazam Family, and now the Birds of Prey--it seems the world is increasingly crawling with superhero teams. A good number of said heroes happen to be in Gotham, which isn't that far from Metropolis. Lois decides to do some digging into who this new all-female group is.


Identity Porn

What if Renee and Lois had already met at some point while Renee was still with the GCPD? Maybe Lois reaches out to an old contact to see if she knows more about the new all-female vigilante group? Maybe the Birds of Prey and Lois actually end up in conflict over a case and Renee does some undercover work to find out what Lois knows/steer her away from trouble (which would, of course, have the opposite effect)?

Vic Sage

I tend to lean towards O’Neil or Rucka characterization for Vic, but am generally open to whatever you’re most familiar/comfortable with or interested in writing. I genuinely don’t mind whether you choose to have him somehow take up the Question mantle in the DCEU and function as a vigilante in his own right, have him working as a television reporter whose investigative journalism gets him into all kinds of trouble, have him take up a career as a private investigator, or work him into the setting in some other way.
 

Prompts:

·       Vic Sage vs. Amanda Waller & the Suicide Squad
So, I never read New 52 Suicide Squad and am only familiar with Vic’s role in the book through osmosis, but I actually do love the idea of Vic going up against Amanda Waller and trying to expose the Squad – just, perhaps, executed a little differently. Maybe after the events of Suicide Squad, reporter!Vic starts digging into what happened in Midway City. I mean, Vic is clever, persistent, and is all about targeting corrupt people in power. I can also see him having a very strong negative reaction to the very concept of what Waller is doing, never mind the actual fallout of putting it into practise in the DCEU. Going up against The Wall, though? Vic’s in for a fight and I’d love to see them try to outwit each other.

·       Vic Sage: Intrepid Reporter

With all the weird and surprising events that occur over the course of the films, there’s no way that Vic can resist sticking his nose in. He’s got questions! Maybe he visits Metropolis in the wake of Black Zero, hoping to meet the last remaining alien. Maybe he pokes around Gotham, hoping to scare up a certain Bat cryptid. Maybe he tries to get a good look at a Parademon. Knowing the way that Vic tends to get himself into hot water, he’s likely to stumble across the DCEU’s plot at one point or another.

 

·       Vic Sage & the Justice League

How does Vic feel about the sudden surge in vigilantism? Does he meet any of the League members – either during an investigation or while indulging in some vigilante activity of his own?

 

·       Vic Sage vs. LexCorp

Sometime around the events of Batman v Superman, Vic grows suspicious of Lex Luthor and decides that if someone’s going to ask the hard questions, it might as well be him. Unfortunately for everybody, even in the DCEU, Vic still gets most of his answers by breaking and entering.



Renee Montoya & Vic Sage

Theirs is one of my all-time favourite friendships in comics, but now that I've met and fallen in love with Rosie Perez's Renee, I can't stop thinking about how that friendship would look in the DCEU. The circumstances around the forming of their friendship in comics canon is so rooted in Renee hitting rock bottom, having lost or alienated every person who cares about her, and Vic, the experienced vigilante, seeking her out to mentor her and offering her another path forward after she turns in her badge under tragic and painful circumstances. DCEU!Renee is older and jaded and turning in her badge is a moment of triumph for her as she readily embraces the vigilante lifestyle with a team at her side. DCEU!Renee isn't in a circumstance where she needs Vic the way that comics!Renee did...but maybe Vic still needs her? And maybe they'd still be better for meeting each other.

Prompts:

Renee mentors Vic

Oh man, if there was ever some great opportunity for a role reversal. Sometime after forming the Birds of Prey with Dinah and Helena, Renee meets an angry young reporter who reminds her a little too uncomfortably of herself. For reasons, she winds up taking him on as her vigilante protege. Does she approach him first? Does he approach her? Does he still routinely wind up almost dying from wandering into dangerous situations? Does he still routinely and insistently invade her life with cryptic overtures of friendship? Does she have to teach him a lesson in humility a la Richard Dragon?


Renee and Vic investigate the same case

This is probably the most obvious way to have them meet. You've got two curious, stubborn people who place getting answers over any self-preservation instincts that they might actually have. So, Renee and the Birds of Prey are looking into something that has apparently caught the interest of a reporter who's not afraid of a little B&E.


One investigates the other

What if reporter!Vic or Question!Vic started poking into the new vigilante team in Gotham? What if Renee (with or without the Birds of Prey) needed to look into the unconventional, upstart vigilante poking into Gotham business and/or the sketchy reporter using dubiously legal methods to break stories that are upsetting some truly dangerous people?


Renee and Vic meet before Birds of Prey

What if Renee and Vic met at some point while Renee was still on the force? Maybe she's had more than one run in with an angry, troubled young man--the type of guy to pick fights just because he knows he can win them? Or maybe she's seen reporter!Vic get into a series of messes and as much as she respects the work that he does and likes seeing some feathers ruffled, she's been pushing for years for him to be a little more careful about it the hypocrite?

Clark Kent/Vic Sage

Unfortunately, their comic counterparts get precious little interaction. There is the Veitch mini series – and I’ll talk about that in one of my prompts – but that features a fairly unusual interpretation of Vic and the Question, though I did enjoy it as an out of continuity story line (and the art was super great). Even despite the lack of canon support, I’ve always felt that this could be a fun pairing. The DCEU, where Superman is a fairly new part of the popular consciousness, provides a perfect avenue for Vic's driving curiosity to lead them together, resulting in a lot of opportunity for stellar interactions.
 

Prompts:

·       Vic Sage crushes on Clark Kent

Identity porn! I’m stealing some concepts from Veitch here. TV reporter Vic Sage comes to Metropolis to cover a story and the Daily Planet graciously sends someone to meet him. Oh no, it’s Lois Lane Clark Kent – the colleague that Vic has been nursing a long-time, awkward crush on. Or maybe they really are meeting for the first time and Vic falls for Clark’s Smallville charm. Meanwhile, the Question has suspicions that someone’s got it out for Superman and does some investigating of his own. Superman does not particularly like the way the Question does things and would like him to get out of his city, thank you very much.

 

·       Vic Sage investigates Superman

Aliens destroy half of Metropolis and then one of them flies around in a cape saving cats from trees and you’re telling me Vic Sage’s not curious as hell about that? Superman suddenly finds himself followed around by a particularly insistent reporter. Meanwhile, Vic’s still very good at getting himself into trouble.


Vic Sage and Clark Kent investigate Amanda Waller and the Suicide Squad:

So, I never read New 52 Suicide Squad and am only familiar with Vic’s role in the book through osmosis, but I actually do love the idea of Vic going up against Amanda Waller and trying to expose the Squad – just, perhaps, executed a little differently. Maybe after the events of Suicide Squad, reporter!Vic starts digging into what happened in Midway City. I mean, Vic is clever, persistent, and is all about targeting corrupt people in power. I can also see him having a very strong negative reaction to the very concept of what Waller is doing, never mind the actual fallout of putting it into practice in the DCEU. Batman v Superman has proven well enough that Clark is equally incapable of not chasing a story when he feels a wrong is being committed, even if he’s facing push back for his interest. I would love to see these two meet while looking into things and find themselves as unlikely allies against The Wall.

Bruce Wayne/Vic Sage

Here’s another case where the comics versions don’t get to spend a whole lot of time together. At least part of that is for reasons that the comics directly address – while they’re very different characters, there is enough overlap in their skillsets and character archetypes that if Batman’s there and playing both brains and brawn, Vic starts to feel…redundant. That being said, I always thought that they had an interesting dynamic, even if it was mostly defined by grudging respect. Very grudging in Bruce’s case (I think the nicest thing he ever said about Vic was “one of these days, he might actually be competent” – “Mr. Warmth”, indeed). I’d be very interested in seeing how a version of Vic that might theoretically exist in the DCEU would interact with DCEU!Bruce.
 

Prompts:

·       Vic Sage investigates the Gotham Bat

TV reporter Vic Sage puts himself on the tail of Gotham’s most famous cryptid, perhaps spurred on by the Bat’s recent habit of branding criminals. His investigative strategy mostly consists of being places he really shouldn’t be. Occasionally, he might either punch someone in the face or get punched in the face. Bruce is Not Impressed.

 

·       Vic Sage investigates Wayne Enterprises

Vic is assigned to do a report on WE and then he digs because he can’t not. He develops a sudden interest in the company’s CEO, who may have more going on than it first appears.


Vic Sage investigates Amanda Waller:

So, I never read New 52 Suicide Squad and am only familiar with Vic’s role in the book through osmosis, but I actually do love the idea of Vic going up against Amanda Waller and trying to expose the Squad – just, perhaps, executed a little differently. Maybe after the events of Suicide Squad, reporter!Vic starts digging into what happened in Midway City. I mean, Vic is clever, persistent, and is all about targeting corrupt people in power. I can also see him having a very strong negative reaction to the very concept of what Waller is doing, never mind the actual fallout of putting it into practise in the DCEU. Meanwhile, Waller makes use of every resource at her disposal in an attempt to shake off suspicion – including pressing Bruce to follow through on the promise of “protection” she extracted from him at the end of Suicide Squad.