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[Batman theory/headcanon] About Tony Zucco, Bruce and Dick, class and power
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Three times rereading the Golden Age issues and i’ve never noticed this maybe because they took care of Zucco in 1 issue.
But, what if Zucco has changed through eras as Bruce Wayne did? That while Bruce got richer and richer and more powerful, Zucco also stayed some big Mafia boss/ lord that apparently could decide Dick’s fate more than polices and Bruce had to hide Dick away so he doesn’t die immidiately?
Guys i just think everything makes sense NOW about Dick and his relationship with Bruce, the Batfam and the whole DCU at large.
It shed some completely different light to Bruce as a character as well.
It contrasts them. Dick Grayson is nobody but Robin/Nightwing is multiversally loved in contrast to how Batman is just a guy in the JL among gods but Bruce Wayne is Gotham’s Prince ; Bruce’s parents were killed by a nobody but Dick’s were by a big boss.
And what if, it was this knowledge that made Bruce make the vow not to kill with Dick, not Alfred, not anyone else, 2 panels later?
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Reminder that before Dick, he was not above using guns and killing. And we know it was a executive decision for Batman to be like "no guns" because Robin was a kid in the 40s. Now, i have nothing against those of you who liked later retcons of Dick’s origins or Bruce’s makings of Batman, and I am ok with the canon that both Bruce and Dick’s parents were killed by the same kind of criminals and he just saw himself in him but what if Bruce just saw himself in ZUCCO, in stead of Dick ? His parents were killed by a common thug so he thought all criminals were cowards, but this is a working class kid who just lost his parents, his home, his culture, his everything, just because a powerful guy of BRUCE’s wealth and class could harm anyone he wanted.
What if this is where Bruce realized the truth that, systematic crimes are a thing, criminals don’t just operate out of fear like his initial ideology, and due to his self-critical nature, realized there’s something wrong about himself, like Zucco, getting all this wealth and power in society, yet gave himself the right to decide one’s life, lives like this boy’s family? and THAT was why he changed his ways about killing and second chances.? Cause that, under the family theme of “you and i are the same” , would be the most beautiful, yet gritty and realistic journey of self-reevaluation i’ve ever seen in any piece of fiction ever.
2. What if in order to keep Dick safe, Bruce had to hide Dick Grayson for a while , only Robin is allowed to fly free?
We’ve known how Dick had trouble finding himself outside of Robin and superhero-ing in general and had explained it like “he is too much a hero, loves Bruce too much to get out of that life”. What if it’s still like that, just more literally : In the first place, Dick Grayson was not supposed to be alive, only Robin, and Robin was both a hero and a mean to save his life ?
I’m thinking of Bruce hiding Dick for very long since Zucco was like, as powerful as Bruce Wayne, he was home - schooled, kept a low proflle and everything, but even if Bruce doesnt hid him that long, the knowledge that you are supposed to die immidiately because somebody will kill you just because they can, has a totally different weight on your psyche than being thrown into a system or, fear of losing another family member so you gotta follow him, even when your killer is stopped and you’re free to do whatever you want.
What if, Dick Grayson was hidden and everyone had forgotten the Flying Grayson by the time Zucco is stopped? Outside of Robin, Dick kept a low profile, in his first years with Bruce, and that’s why he was unaccostumed to school and “normal” things, and when he grew up and the teams parted, he just went “wait who is Dick Grayson?” and automatically threw himself into odd jobs and lived small in stead of what Bruce would want for him in order to find who Dick Grayson is despite completely failing at that because he never had the chance, or even the motivation, to be Dick Grayson, son of working class parents?
Of course Bruce knows he need that and had been waiting for this day when Dick needed to find himself. (instead of acting like an asshole when Dick rebelled) but it still threw Bruce off because he never knew the real Dick Grayson either. Robin was only Robin to him, and Robin was too good, Threw both of them off, for Dick had always wanted a different life, to not depend on Bruce, yet never was prepared for the day Bruce pulled that net from under him first even after everything with Zucco is settled, the assurance that now he could live in peace.
Also the thing about “world class acrobat” was only something DC TOLD us. And it makes little sense that Robin is big but Dick Grayson was also a star without compromising his secret id. He has never gave winning prices as an acrobat a thought or treated as world-famous. What if he never really had that either? a complete nobody so that his only fame is just Bruce Wayne’s most ward - or not even that? That only Tim remembered him from the circus, not because of talents of a detective, but just that. Tim remembered someone everyone had forgotten. He remembered the kind boy that gave him a hug.
That would explain Dick’s insecurities, his need for independence and autonomy, his prideful refusal of money and help , warring with his lack of confidence in his place, of Dick Grayson’s place, in Bruce’s life, compared to his brothers. AND despite all that, still seemingly too forgiving love for all of Bruce’s failings as a father. He knew deep down, even when he didn’t understand it, that Bruce saved him, helped him too much already, not just in the sense that one man saved a boy and gave him everything, but the fact that Batman gave him the world, literally. Batman had closed the social gap between them to come to him, and more. I hope he did, but given who Bruce is, i’m sure Bruce never told Dick that Batman was a hero because of him. In fact, it also explains why he was even MORE loyal to the killing rule than Bruce himself. The rule, the entire mythos, kinda started with him.
Living on the line, only prevailing and come out the best when you are pushed to your limits, was always a reoccurring theme of Dicks life. What if that’s the very thing that gave birth to Robin? Its not loyalty for Bruce or trauma response though he had both, it’s the haunting little voice in his heart that says “you were supposed to die with them” that made him push back and give ALL of himself to being Robin, being a hero and the best at that without hesitation or even any emotional distraction. Justice is not just something he wanted, it’s his only choice. From the moment they became family, Batman was the orphaned Prince’s way to the common man of Gotham, Robin/Nightwing was literally a bird straight from the ashes of hell transformed into the hero of heroes of the DCU.
