| Damian Wayne | |
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Damian Wayne as Robin. Promotional art for Batman & Robin vol. 1, #1 (June 2009) cover, art by Frank Quitely. |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | As a baby: Batman: Son of the Demon (1987) As Damian Wayne: Batman #655 (September 2006) As Robin: Batman and Robin #1 (August 2009) |
| Created by | Original Concept: Mike W. Barr Current Incarnation: Grant Morrison Andy Kubert |
| In-story information | |
| Full name | Damian Wayne |
| Team affiliations | Batman Family League of Assassins Wayne Enterprises Teen Titans Batman Inc. |
| Supporting character of | Batman |
| Notable aliases | Robin |
| Abilities | Excellent athlete and acrobat; exceptional martial artist trained by the League of Assassins; access to high tech equipment; good detective skills; good business skills; gift for voice imitation |
Damian Wayne is a fictional character in the DC Comics Universe. Damian is the child of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul,[1][2][3] and thus the grandson of Batman villain Ra's al Ghul.
The character originally appeared as an unnamed infant in the 1987 story Son of the Demon,[4] which was then never mentioned within continuity. Following this, various alternate universe stories dealt with the course of the character's life, giving him varying names. In 2006, the character was reinterpreted as Damian Wayne by Grant Morrison, and reintroduced into the main continuity in Batman #655, the first issue of the "Batman & Son" story arc.
Having spent his gestation in a laboratory, Damian as a pre-adolescent is left by his mother in the care of his father, who was not aware of his son's existence until that point in time. Damian is violent and self-important, and was trained by the League of Assassins, learning to kill at a young age, which creates a troubled relationship with his father who refuses to kill his opponents. However, the Dark Knight does care for his lost progeny.[5] After the events of Batman R.I.P. and Batman: Battle for the Cowl, Damian takes up the identity of Robin at ten years of age,[6] becoming the fifth person to use the Robin identity. He first worked with Dick Grayson - the original Robin - who temporarily took over as Batman, before going to work alongside his father, upon Bruce Wayne's return to the role of Batman.
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The child from Son of the Demon was utilized in various stories before appearing as Damian Wayne.
In the Elseworlds story, The Brotherhood of the Bat (1995), a version named Tallant Wayne appears who crusades against his grandfather, Ra's al Ghul. Brotherhood of the Bat features a future in which Ra's al Ghul discovers the Batcave following Bruce Wayne's death, and outfits the League of Assassins in variant Batman costumes based on Wayne's rejected designs. Talia and Bruce's son join the Brotherhood in his father's costume, to destroy it from within.
In Kingdom Come (1996) by Mark Waid and Alex Ross, which functioned as a possible future to the canon of the time, the child of Batman and Talia has become Ibn al Xu'ffasch, literally "Son of the Bat", a member of Lex Luthor's inner circle. He falls in love with Nightstar, the daughter of Dick Grayson and Starfire. There is some suggestion that he is Batman's spy in Luthor's camp.[7] In the Elliot S! Maggin novelization of Kingdom Come, Al Xu'ffasch tells Bruce that his mother Talia is still alive and working as a Mother Superior in India, one of Mother Teresa's successors. Al Xu'ffasch reappears in Waid's The Kingdom. In The Kingdom: Son of the Bat, flashbacks shed new insights into his history: that he was reared by Ra's al Ghul to be the heir to his empire, that he eventually murdered his grandfather (cutting off his head to prevent yet another regeneration), and that he sought therapy from psychiatrist Dr. Gibson. He was eventually recruited by Rip Hunter to try to stop a madman named Gog from altering his history. He works with several other heroes of his generation - Kid Flash, the daughter of the Flash; Nightstar (Nightwing and Starfire's child) and Offspring, the son of Plastic Man.
In League of Batmen (2001), the sequel to Brotherhood of the Bat, Tallant leads his own team of variant Batmen to combat the plague that was al Ghul's legacy. During the battle, Tallant discovers that his grandfather is the one who murdered his father and then cloned him. Ra's even sent the clone to murder his own daughter. Because the deaths of his parents at Ra's hands, Tallant has completed following his father's tragic path as Batman. The new Dark Knight desires justice for his parents along trying to stop his grandfather, while having to battle his father's murderous double.
Grant Morrison's story titled Batman & Son (2006) expands upon the Son of the Demon storyline as part of a remodeling of Batman's personality after the events of Infinite Crisis. In Morrison's version, the child, Damian Wayne, is the result of a tryst by Batman and Talia, during which the Dark Knight claims he was drugged when they were at the Tropic of Cancer.
The final issue of 52 (2008) designates the Kingdom Come alternate universe as Earth-22, thus making the Ibn al Xu'ffasch version part of the DC multiverse. Justice Society of America (vol. 3) #22 (2009) reveals that he would eventually marry Nightstar with whom he would have a daughter and son.
When asked by Wizard about the canonicity of Son of the Demon, Morrison responded:
"For a long time, [DC] said [Son of the Demon] was out of continuity. Now it's just kind of out of continuity. I didn't actually read it before I started writing this. I messed up a lot of details, like Batman wasn't drugged when he was having sex with Talia and it didn't take place in the desert. I was relying on shaky memories. But now we have this new "Superboy punch" continuity [after Superboy Prime attacked the fabric of the universe during Infinite Crisis]. People still don't realize how important that single punch was to cover everyone's ass."[8]
Damian's origin is unknown to Batman. Genetically perfected and grown in an artificial womb, Damian was intended to be a formidable warrior. He is raised by Talia and the League of Assassins. He becomes a talented martial artist by the time he is a pre-teen, at which time Talia reveals Damian's existence to Bruce Wayne and leaves him in Batman's custody in an effort to disrupt Batman's work.
Precocious, spoiled, and violent, Damian battles Tim Drake, who he wants to replace as Wayne's Robin, and sucker punches Drake off the stuffed Tyrannosaurus in the Batcave when Tim stops fighting to help him. Damian then escapes, dons a variant Robin costume made of Jason Todd's old tunic and mask and assorted League of Assassin gear, and gets into a fight with and decapitates the villainous Spook. Although misguided and malicious, Damian seems to genuinely want to aid Wayne's war on crime as he sees himself as Wayne's son and wants Wayne's approval. Unfortunately, because of how he was raised, Damian lacks any sort of common sense in regards to social behavior, and believes that in order to be accepted by Batman, he must kill any rivals, which included Tim Drake.
Eventually, Batman confronts Talia to confirm Damian's true identity, but both Talia and Damian are soon caught in an explosion. They survive the explosion, but a badly injured Damian requires transplants of harvested organs, which his mother orders her physicians to carry out. Damian makes a full recovery.[9]
In Batman Annual: Head of the Demon, Talia takes Damian to the Australian Outback, where he is tutored in the secret history of his grandfather, Ra's al Ghul. Talia is unaware that a former servant of Ra's, named White Ghost, plans to use Damian as a shell for the soul of Ra's to return to Earth. This process would, of course, kill Damian. Talia is able to save her son from his fate at the last minute.
Ra's is still able to return, but as a rotting, shambling undead corpse, still needing Damian to stabilize his form. Damian flees to alert Batman, but is pursued by his evil grandfather. Upon entering Wayne Manor, Damian attempts to relay to Robin the fact that Ra's has returned. Robin, suspicious of Damian's intentions, does not believe his story and begins a fist fight. Damian flees and encounters Alfred. Before he can effectively relay his news, he is attacked by Robin, who perceives Damian's attempt to help a tripping Alfred as an attack, and renews their battle. As they fight, members of the League of Assassins approach the manor with the intention of killing all others within and bringing Damian back to Ra's alive. Damian and Robin (Tim) fight side-by-side against Ra's and his minions. Their collaboration is hindered by their very different philosophies of battle. Damian is willing to betray Tim at any moment for his own safety. Ra's captures the two and tells Batman that he will use one of them for his own body. Batman offers his own body instead.
Ra's refuses the offer, feeling that he needs someone of a younger age. The choices are Robin or Damian. Batman offers a third alternative: "Fountain of Essence," which contains the qualities of a Lazarus Pit. Batman and Ra's go in search of the fountain, leaving Tim, Damian, Nightwing, Alfred, and Talia to battle the Sensei. Damian leaves his mother and Tim to an unknown fate, while he goes off to be with his father. He ends up captured by Ra's and nearly loses his life. Batman and the others manage to save him, and Talia takes her son and escapes.
A subsequent conversation between Robin and Alfred implies that Batman has carried out a DNA test on Damian. Alfred says Bruce intended to tell him the results when the time was right. At this, Tim realizes that Damian is indeed Bruce's son, and exclaims "The son of the Devil is my brother?"[3]
Prior to the start of Grant Morrison's "Batman R.I.P." story arc in Batman #675, Damian has sensed that someone is out to get Batman. In response to this, Talia begins to formulate a plan. That plan seems to involve getting the help of Commissioner James Gordon, whom Talia and Damian rescue from a booby-trapped Wayne Manor, while in search of Batman, who has gone insane and missing.
Damian and Alfred race to aid Batman against the Black Glove in a commandeered Batmobile and Damian who is driving, knocks an ambulance off a bridge without any sign of remorse or even concern. When Alfred reprimands him, Damian retorts with a backhanded threat. Thankfully, the only occupant of the ambulance was the Joker.
In Nightwing #153 (2009), Damian is shown being left in the care of Alfred Pennyworth and trained by Dick Grayson.
Upon the start of Batman: Battle for the Cowl, it appears that Damian is now residing in Gotham, and living under the command of Nightwing (to an extent). Where before Damian portrayed an arrogant and vicious personality, it appears the "death" of his father has regressed him to a more child-like mindset, as demonstrated when he takes the Batmobile joy-riding with an older girl. This is discovered by Oracle, who ejects the girl and takes control of the Batmobile, intent on taking Damian home. Unfortunately, the car is blindsided by Killer Croc and Poison Ivy, who prepare to kill Damian. The older girl Damian was with is later eaten by Killer Croc.[10] Damian is saved by Nightwing who ends up being cornered by Black Mask's men, until a murderous figure appears stating that he is Batman (this is later revealed to be Jason Todd). Although shot by Todd, Damian recovers, and saves Tim Drake from falling to death inside Jason's Batcave.[11] When Grayson hangs up his Nightwing mantle to become the newest Batman, Damian takes over the mantle of Robin by his side.[12]
Despite working as Grayson's Robin, Damian expresses a strong willingness to take over the Batman identity himself if Dick is not "up to it." Damian initially has no respect for Grayson, and tells him that he needs to earn it.
It is revealed that Damian has begun to visit his father's former friend and enemy Thomas Elliot, also known as Hush, in the prison at the top of Wayne Tower that Dick and Tim put him in, and engages him in chess games. Damian claims that these visits are out of his curiosity for why Hush would alter his appearance to that of Bruce Wayne's. But Hush suspects that the visits are rather Damian's form of grieving for Bruce and a way to "spend time with your old man."
It becomes apparent that Grayson chose Damian to be his Robin instead of Tim Drake because he sees Tim as an equal and not as a sidekick, and thinks that Damian needs guidance and a constant eye watching him, or else he will kill again. Regardless, Damian mocks Tim for no longer being a part of the Dynamic Duo, even going so far as to offer him the Batgirl position. This causes Tim to snap, taking on the mantle of Red Robin and searching the globe for Bruce Wayne, who Tim believes is still alive. After his first fight alongside Dick, Damian gets upset with Grayson and goes looking for the villain Professor Pyg himself. The Professor captures him, or rather, is led to believe so by Damian, who is in complete control of the situation, waiting for the right moment to make his move. Despite his good intentions, however, Damian is still overpowered by a large number of Dollotrons. Bent on catching Pyg, he is saved only by the timely intervention of Dick Grayson. While pursuing Pyg, he overlooks an earlier promise he had made to Sasha (to save her and take her to safety), the only Dollotron who has an intact personality. As a result, the young girl's sanity is bent by her traumatic ordeal and disfigurement, and she becomes ripe for the Red Hood to sway her to his side,[13] thereby becoming the new Robin's opposite number in Red Hood's no-holds-barred war against crime (Red Hood's maxim is "let the punishment fit the crime").[14]
Damian, who has since forgotten about Sasha, rejoins Dick and together the new Dynamic Duo take out Pyg, after which they face the Red Hood. The Red Hood (Jason Todd, the second Robin) works with Sasha to kill the new Dynamic Duo. Damian, Dick, Jason and Sasha (codenamed Scarlet)'s fight turns into a free-for-all as the Flamingo arrives, intent on killing the Red Hood. Damian attempts to stop the Flamingo, but is shot multiple times in the back. His mother has Damian picked up by the League of Shadows, during which she and Alfred Pennyworth stay by his side while doctors perform complex and extremely advanced methods of surgery to not only repair his spine, but replace it altogether. Talia informs Alfred that Damian will be returned to him and Grayson within a few days.
It appears that Damian has a sense of empathy towards children, as was demonstrated by his behavior during a mission with the new Azrael and more recently during a Christmas case, in which Damian and Dick find the bodies of several dismembered kids, causing Damian to vomit in horror.
Damian and Dick come to blows with Stephanie Brown, the new Batgirl, and Barbara Gordon, who acts as her mentor. However, even though Stephanie and Damian initially do not get along, he is intrigued by the new Batgirl, watching her in an attempt to "figure out what makes 'Stephanie Brown' tick" (something said while drawing a stick-figure Batgirl in the snow).[15] Because of the kidnapping of Fernando Garcia, which some of the Gotham's rogues are involved, Dick and Damian find themselves working with Barbara and Stephanie despite their current situations.[16]
Damian also becomes involved with the Wayne Enterprises' board members during a board meeting led by Lucius Fox. He manages to track down financial irregularities within the Wayne Enterprises accounts, intimidating the board of members along the way. The board becomes impressed that the young Wayne has such impressive business capabilities despite his young age, apparently inherited from his father.[17]
After Tim Drake is revealed to have been named as Bruce Wayne's heir in accordance of his will made prior to his disappearance, Damian has filed an injunction with the board against Drake since he is Wayne's son.
Damian also is present when Donna Troy recruits Grayson for the Justice League. Upon hearing this, Damian demands that he be accepted into the League as well. His demands are ignored.
Damian's second year as Robin begins with a bang, as he chooses this time to pick a fight against his predecessor, Tim Drake (Red Robin). Red Robin, who has been keeping a list of criminals and tasks he calls the Hit List, attracts Damian's fury when the Boy Wonder hacks the Hit List and discovers a hidden layer of allies to the Bat-Family considered by Tim as potential threats, among which is Robin. During a stakeout mission, Damian slices off Red Robin's line, causing him to fall from a great height. He survives, and Red Robin pulls Robin into an all-out brawl that begins with their quarry escaping, and ending in front of the theater where Bruce Wayne's parents were killed, and where Dick, Tim, and Damian's destinies were forged. Robin loses to Red Robin, but still struggles to fight when the two are stopped by Batman, who chastises the brothers for fighting in front of the theater where Batman was born. The two then enter into a grudging truce for the remainder of Robin's appearances in the series, with Batman (the one ally Red Robin trusted, and did not include in the Hit List) changing the Hit List password to make it difficult for Damian to hack.
After Bruce's skull was taken from his grave, Damian and Dick decide to bring the rest of his skeleton, along with those of Damian's paternal grandparents, to their base beneath Wayne Tower. Damian is quite shaken by the sight of the bones of his family. On the way to the cave, Dick's body is possessed by Deadman, at whom Damian lashes out in confusion. Deadman then possesses and leaves Damian's body, subsequently passing his knowledge of the attack of the Black Lanterns onto him. The two heroes then prepare for the Black Lanterns' assault on Gotham.[18] After raiding the Army Reserve National Guard Armory, Dick, Damian, and the arriving Tim Drake, are able to save Commissioner Gordon, Oracle, and the surviving police officers at Gotham Central from the reanimated versions of the original Dark Knight's deceased rogue gallery members. However, they then find themselves in a horrific encounter with the parents of Dick Grayson and Tim Drake reanimated as Black Lanterns.[19] Dick and Tim send Damian with the Gordons to their underground base while they battle the Black Lanterns. Dick eventually orders Damian through their comm-links to send one of his Wingers with Mr. Freeze's gun. Grayson uses the weapon to cryogenically suspend himself and Tim, forcing the Black Lanterns to retreat as they are unable to read any sign of life of them. Deadman later revives the former Boys Wonder.[20]
Talia begins to clone Damian as she realizes that her son has completely sided with Dick Grayson and the Bat-Family. Damian finally stands up for his Robin mantle, telling Talia that being Robin was the best thing that he had ever done, and Talia does not need to save him from something he chooses to be. Talia then shows Damian a cloned version of himself, whom she sees as Damian's younger brother. Talia admits to Damian, that even though she loves him, she is too much of a perfectionist to admire him for choosing a path that defies her this blatantly, and he is therefore no longer welcome, and will be considered an enemy of the House of al Ghul. Damian defiantly replies that he hopes to be a worthy one. Damian (as Robin) is then seen teaming up with Dick and Alfred to begin their own search for Bruce Wayne.[21]
During a confrontation with a returned minor villain the Getaway Genius, Damian is initially angry that Grayson failed to capture the foe - as well as the implication that his father failed as well during the Genius's original run back when Grayson was Robin - but when Dick explains to him that Bruce let the Genius go because he discovered that the Genius's robberies were only him stealing medicines that he needed so that he could live long enough to see his daughter grow up, Damian realises that he never really knew his father as a person, and admits that there was more to him than Batman.[22]
After Grayson's confidant Oberon Sexton is revealed to be the Joker in disguise, Damian tortures the villain by savagely beating him with a crowbar in order to get information, considering it to be self-defense since the Joker planned to attack him.[23] However, the Clown Prince of Crime's apparent helplessness is revealed to be another ruse and he incapacitates Damian with his hidden Joker venom. The villain intends to use Damian and Dick in his fight against their common enemies: the Black Glove. Help arrives in the form of the original Batman. After Bruce Wayne helps Dick and Damian defeat the Black Glove and the Joker, Wayne accepts his son in additions of his role as Robin.[24] Despite Bruce's parental responsibilities to Damian, he decides that he prefers Damian to continue working with Dick (who maintains the Batman mantle and whom Bruce sees as a positive role model for his son) rather than being with himself primarily, due to his plans with Batman Inc. [25]
Damian joins the Teen Titans when Dick Grayson concludes that the team needs a Robin, while also feeling that Damian would benefit from the friendship of other heroes, having progressed to the point where he can be trusted not to kill if left 'unsupervised'.[26] Although Wonder Girl objects to this decision, Grayson convinces her to let Damian stay on the team as he needs to learn that he can trust others not to betray him, only for his temper to jeopardize his first mission with the team when he attacks an opponent just after Raven had convinced him to calm down, provoking their new foe into starting his wave of destruction again.[27] Robin eventually begins to develop a friendship with Ravager, who initially reaches out to Damian due to their similar upbringings (Ravager's father being the notorious assassin, Deathstroke).[28] Tim Drake eventually comes to the Titans for help after a robotic duplicate of the Calculator attempts to murder his close friend, Tam Fox, and decides to rejoin the team once the mission is completed. Damian chooses to leave the team upon Drake's return, reasoning that the Teen Titans do not need two Robins, and realizing that his teammates prefer to work with Tim. Upon returning to Gotham, Damian tells Dick that even though he'd been brought to the Titans in order to find friends, he did not need to, as he already had one, Grayson himself.[29]
When Blackbat, Stephanie Brown's predecessor, returns to Gotham, she and Damian are partnered together during a stake-out to catch the Architect, a new villain obsessed with destroying Gotham landmarks. Damian berates Blackbat and mocks her for being sent to Hong Kong by his father, but she ultimately saves his life by rescuing him from the exploding Iceberg Lounge.[30] Afterwards, the two work together to stop the bomber from destroying a massive bridge, saving dozens of lives in the process.[31]
Robin and a group of other ex-Titans later head to Titans Tower to help the team during a battle against Superboy-Prime and the Legion of Doom.[32] During the battle, Robin destroys one of Prime's evil Superboy dopplegangers by using a Kryptonite blade.[33]
Following the Flashpoint event, Bruce returns to being Gotham's Dark Knight, while Dick returns to his previous role as Nightwing. Damian serves as his father's partner. After reading the letter written by his father from an alternate timeline, the Dark Knight decides that it is time to stop being fixated on his family's tragedy and instead look at the positive by trying to remember his parents' anniversary, birthdays, and other important events of their lives. He tries to teach Damian the same values they have instilled within him as he finally assumes his role as a father.[34] However, despite Bruce's attempts to build a relationship with his son, he remains cold and distant with his progeny, which Alfred worries about.
References in current continuity have been made to the future of Bruce and Talia's son.
Having been trained by the League of Assassins since birth, Damian is already a master martial artist. Under the tutelage of Dick Grayson, he was trained in the disciplines of forensics, acrobatics, criminology, disguise and escapology. Damian is skilled in mimicking voices and speech patterns of others accurately, as he was able to imitate Tim Drake's to bypass the Batcave's voice recognition security systems.[35] Damian has demonstrated to have highly advanced engineering skills, as he was able to complete his father's plans of building a flying Batmobile, the construction of which Alfred described as "being an endless source of frustration to (Damian's) father". Damian is also a capable businessman despite his young age, and currently involved with Wayne Enterprises and its board members. He also has been trained in every weapon known to man as shown in the Blackest Night event.[36]
After stealing Jason Todd's Robin tunic and mask from his memorial case, Damian's unofficial appearance as Robin was wearing them over his black and white bodysuit with a grayish hood and cape. He carried a pair of brass knuckles, which he incorporated as part of this costume. He also would carry a sword.
After Dick Grayson officially sanctioned Damian's role as Robin, while a standard Robin tunic was retained, the bodysuit was replaced with a black survival suit, the grayish cape with a yellow "para-cape" which grants him a gliding capability, the black mask with a green one, a bulkier utility belt to carry more arsenal and gadgetry, a black hood, and flexible green gloves and boots.
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