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3 Reasons Damian Wayne Is Actually the Best Robin
Batman has a lot of Robins. It’s actually become something of a sticking point for some fans, the number of young sidekicks that the Dark Knight has had take up that mantle over the years. While Dick Grayson was the first, he certainly wasn’t the last, with Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown, and several others all putting on the red and green suit over the years. With so many different people having held the mantle, it’s no surprise that fans have their favorites.
But while Tim and Dick frequently are cited as the “best” Robins, the most recent person to hold that title may actually deserve to be on that list as well. Damian Wayne has been a divisive character since his introduction, but he’s also proven himself to be one of the more complex characters to serve as sidekick to Batman. Here are three reasons Damian Wayne is the best Robin.
3) He’s Carving His Own Path
Damian is unique as a Robin in many ways, but the biggest is that he was quite literally born into this life. As the son of Talia al Ghul, his early life saw him trained and indoctrinated into the League of Assassins before being left in the care of his father, Bruce Wayne and introduced to his crusade for justice. That duality is much of what we see define Damian early on with him seeing the role as Robin as his birthright but also not necessarily wanting to let go of the more brutal version of justice that he learned with the League.
However, over time we’ve seen things shift with Damian. The longer he serves with Batman, the more we’re seeing him start to establish his own version of what it means to pursue justice as well as seeing him figure out who he is as a person outside of the suit as well and he’s doing it in a way that is different than what we’ve seen from other characters. For both Dick and Tim in particular, finding their place has always led to trying to become something new — Nightwing in Dick’s case, Red Robin in Tim’s — but for Damian it’s more about acceptance. the recent Batman and Robin run saw Damian fully embrace his place as a Wayne and what it means to be his own form of Robin, so much so that he found balance in serving Gotham by day by helping in hospitals and by night as being his very own, very distinct version of Robin.
2) He Formed His Own Teen Titans
The Teen Titans are something of a fixture in DC and you really can’t have the Teen Titans without a Robin and during the Rebirth era, Damian takes his turn. He first brought the team — comprised of Starfire, Beast Boy, Raven, and Kid Flash — together after they become targets of the Demon’s Fist as part of an initiation into the League, but after they disband and he realizes he needs help dealing with the crime lord known as The Other, he starts up his own, new team.
Damian brings together Kid Flash, Red Arrow, Crush, Roundhouse, and Djinn to create this new version of the Teen Titans, but this isn’t just a situation of some heroes coming together to fight alongside each other as has typically been the case with previous teen teams. Damian has to actually teach and train his allies to work together as a team. It demonstrates a different level of skill and leadership than what we’re used to seeing from the other Robins, revealing just how different Damian actually is in terms of his strengths.
1) He’s the Robin Most Like Batman
The thing that might set Damian apart as the best Robin, however, might be just how much like Batman he actually is in the best possible way: the lengths he will go to save people and the strategies he will employ to do it. A prime example of this is in Joshua Williams’ Robin. The run sees Damian abandon his mantle as Robin after having a falling out with Batman and enter the League of Lazarus tournament to prove he’s the greatest fighter in the DC Universe. But here’s the thing: it’s a tournament where you have to kill others.
What starts as a chance to prove himself turns into an opportunity to take down a real threat, leader of the League of Lazarus, Mother Soul. Not only does Damian risk his own life by entering the tournament where death could end up being permanent, but he makes friends and alliances with his opponents in order to take down Mother Soul. It’s a bold move of strategy that shows that he is very much Batman’s son in ways no other Robin can claim.
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