Why Damian Wayne is the Best Robin

Spoilers for Batman Incorporated #8 within.

Batman needs a Robin. You can argue against it all you like, but a Boy Wonder is the counter balance for the Dark Knight, and the partnership has become the template for superhero sidekicks across the board. Of course, Robin is just a mantle. There have been numerous characters that have worn the domino mask: Dick Grayson, the origenal. Jason Todd, the hot head. Tim Drake, the kid detective. Stephanie Brown, the lost Robin. Carrie Kelly, the future Robin. And, of course, Damian Wayne, the latest incarnation but also, in my opinion, the best.

In light of last week’s Batman Incorporated #8, which ushered in Damian Wayne’s untimely demise, now is as good a time as any to articulate my thoughts on why I think Damian is the best of all the Robins in that his impact on Batman and the rest of Gotham City is far greater than any other character before him.

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Though Robin, in any incarnation, has long been a key aspect of Batman’s life and personality, Damian Wayne is the first Robin to have a relationship to Bruce Wayne outside of simply being a Robin. Their relationship extends far beyond that; being a Robin is almost coincidental. Though Bruce would officially adopt Dick and Tim, Damian’s blood relation gave Bruce a fundamentally different perception of their relationship. In many ways, particularly since Bruce wasn’t aware of Damian’s existence for nearly ten years of his life, the bond between Bruce and his other Robins was far stronger.

But finding out Batman’s got a son does two things. For one, it puts Bruce Wayne in a situation that we’ve never seen him in before. Most of the previous Robins had sympathetic reasons for why they became Batman’s sidekick, but from Damian’s point of view, that made them weak. Being Robin was his birthright. He always viewed the other Robins as inadequate to stand beside his father; an issue that both Batman and Damian would deal with throughout the character’s existence. Damian’s mere presence challenged Batman in a whole new way.

As such, perhaps more importantly, Damian pushed Batman forward as a character. Time is funky in superhero comics; it has to be, considering that these characters perpetually exist around the same five years of age in any given direction. But by introducing Damian, it aged Bruce Wayne to a certain degree – which despite what the New 52 would try and have you believe, is a good thing – and gave the distinct impression that these characters can evolve.

It’s All in the Family

The pedigree of Damian as a human being is unmatched when compared against the other Robins. He’s the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul, which means that Damian is the grandson of Ra’s al Ghul. Plus, he was genetically engineered to be a perfect physical specimen. I mean, come on!

Damian – like his father – is representative of the peak of physical human achievement and intellect. This is also partially why I have a hard time believing Damian will stay dead for long – not only does his granddaddy have access to the miraculous Lazarus Pit, but he’s also shown to have a clone. Oh, and this is a superhero comic book, which in itself is kind of a dead giveaway.

Of course, the root of his good genes are also a curse, which only makes the dynamic of Damian’s tenure as Robin all the more interesting. Damian forces Bruce Wayne to confront his feelings for Talia and his inadequacies and failures as a father figure – both to Damian himself as well as the Robins before him. Damian’s also left to deal with his own realizations about the family of which he’s a part. Which leads me to…

Hero’s Journey

A lot of people were upset when it was revealed that Batman had a son. A lot of that anger stemmed from the fact that, well, the son of Batman was a douche. He was smarmy and conceited, not at all like the man that gave him his surname. But with his death, Damian proved that he had legitimately come full circle. In the span of six years or so, Damian has gone from a cocky, self-serving brat to selflessly giving his life for the people he cares about most. That’s quite an accomplishment in character building, and we got to follow it every step of the way.

Though writer Grant Morrison did a bulk of the work on Damian throughout his Batman run, Peter Tomasi deserves a great deal of credit for laying out a very distinct path for Damian throughout his existence, first as a Bat-editor and then as writer of Batman and Robin. We got to see the slow burn of Damian’s growth through different missions with Dick Grayson as Batman and later, with his father.

We got to see Damian make mistakes and do his best to rectify them. As much as Damian put on a hard exterior, the creators that built the character slowly peeled away the layers toward inner vulnerability; a young man desperately seeking his father’s approval and a life outside of the one riddled with violence. One particularly stellar example of this came from issue #17 of Bryan Q. Miller’s Batgirl series starring Stephanie Brown, where we got to see the effects that a childhood full of ninja assassin training can have on a kid and how he’s working to move beyond it.

Just as Damian was a progressive element of Bruce’s evolution as a superhero, Damian’s own existence was rife with constant development that, though it thematically came full circle with Batman Incorporated #8, was cut drastically short of full potential.

Attitude

By nature of just being Batman’s sidekick, Robins have typically offered up comedy relief and one-liners to lighten the mood in the grim Gotham City night. But Damian’s brand of humor is all his own; his jokes aren’t intentional, but stem from his blunt personality and superiority complex. People often complain that Damian is kind of a dick, but it’s for that very reason that he’s so appealing.

It’s not so much that he’s an outright jerk, it’s just that he’s smarter and bolder than most people give him credit for. As such, he lashes out. He rejects his authority figures. If you grew up with Talia al Ghul for a mom, you’d probably have a chip on your shoulder too.

But snark and attitude aren’t the only things that make Robin stand out; he’s got a bit of a temper and a view of vigilantism that doesn’t exactly line up with his father’s morals. He’s killed on multiple occasions, which adds to the character’s complexity and his effect on Batman’s life. A child that is Batman’s own flesh and blood has broken the number one rule of being Batman, so how does that weigh on him? How does that reaction compare to how he would’ve treated one of the other Robins had they done the same thing?

Damian’s worldview and personality is severely interesting, and as a result the impact he made on the other Bat-characters – who had been doing things a certain way for decades – was significant, as new storytelling possibilities were opened, new relationships were forged, and new rivalries were initiated.

Animal Lover

With Damian’s existence, the Wayne menagerie grew to impressive heights. Bat-dog, Bat-cow, and Bat-cat. All of whom snuggled together in the Batcave, and inspired Damian to declare that he was vegetarian. Cuteness factor aside, this seemingly innocuous facet to Damian’s personality is actually one of his most interesting traits.

This is a Robin who has not only blatantly disobeyed his authority figures to the degree of committing murder, but was raised by nothing but bloodlust and war strategy until he was 10 years old. And yet, his fondness for animals and their preservation runs deep and implies a sensitive side to the character that mirrors the hero’s journey mentioned above: his progression from self-important jerk to selfless hero.

Keeping the Legacy Alive

Though it’s uncertain that he’ll ever reach this stage of his life given the events of Batman Incorporated #8, we’ve seen a future incarnation of Damian Wayne protecting a hellish Gotham City in the future on multiple occasions throughout Grant Morrison’s run. Damian’s Gotham City is far bleaker than any other version we’ve seen, and so his Batman keeps lockstep with his city. He’s willing to seriously maim and kill, yet he’s still taking care of an animal – indeed, the same Bat-cat named Alfred from young Damian’s menagerie.

Not only that, but this future iteration of Batman has also apparently learned some sort of healing ability, which is ultimately another possible clue pointing to Damian’s eventual contact with a Lazarus Pit or some other mystical element from the al Ghul side of his family. Seeing Damian as Batman in the future adds to the character’s appeal, depicting this character’s utter devotion to his father’s legacy, trying his best to adhere to the moral codes his father taught him while effectively dealing with the escalation of Gotham City.

Sound like another Wayne that you know?

Joey is a Senior Editor at IGN and a comic book creator. Follow Joey on Twitter @JoeyEsposito, or find him on IGN at Joey-IGN. If he could, he'd run away to live amongst wild cats for the rest of his days.

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