After his once-wealthy father finally gambled away the family fortune, his mother fled because she couldn't bear the hardship, and his father jumped off a building after racking up loan shark debts, twelve-year-old Zhou Ri and his younger sister Zhou Tian had no choice but to rely on each other in Gotham. Then, after the Joker escaped Arkham yet again and killed his sister, Zhou Ri lost the last thing he had to hope for in life. He went dark and vowed to take down the Joker.
The main character is mixed-race, with black hair and blue eyes. His sister Zhou Tian is the same, and they're fraternal twins. Their runaway mother will probably be given a special identity, but that's undecided for now.
The protagonist's great-great-grandfather was one of the first people to come to Gotham to help build the city. He was Chinese and came as a wealthy merchant to develop Gotham. Later, he was hunted by the Court of Owls (Note: The Court of Owls is essentially the KKK. They won't tolerate people of color joining Gotham's upper class), and the protagonist's family fell into decline. By the time of his father's generation, the family fortune had finally been squandered, and he'd piled up a mountain of debt.
It's still undecided whether the protagonist will become a Talon, develop superpowers, or mutate in some kind of chemical reaction. Either way, he can't just be an ordinary person trying to get revenge on the Joker. That would be way too hard.
The protagonist is a Gotham native, and he doesn't have any particular fondness for the Bat-Family. He'll show no mercy to anyone who tries to stop him from taking revenge. His ultimate goal is to take down the Joker.
I probably won't write this until I've finished my current story.
P.S. This idea came from chatting with some friends in a group. Why haven't any Gotham citizens become tough, hysterically vengeful people who go after the major villains? Why hasn't a single victim hardened their resolve and thought of strapping on a bomb to take a villain down with them? That's how this story came about.
[DC only, no other universes]
Theme: Ordinary people can rise up too
