How Would You Reduce The Bat-Family?

[Aahz]

Nah. You can take this idea and throw it right into the trash where it belongs. I’ve spent enough time waiting for some of my favourite characters to be freed from limbo, I’d rather not add even more names to the list

With the main Batman writers usually staying on the book for 4-5 years (at least Morrison, Snyder and King stayed that long) that would be really not a good idea.

Not every character needs to appear in every event, but no character should "put on the bus" for more than a year (at max maybe two years).

And in the past the writers haven even with a reduced cast often not really managed to use them all properly (for example in the Eternals).

[9th.]

I wouldn't, part of the beauty of Batman is the people around him

[Cmbmool]

Reducing...how about rebooting...First things is first...EVERY BIT OF BATMAN LORE IS ON THE TABLE AND THAT INCLUDES FRANK MILLAR'S STUFF.

First off start with just Bruce like back in the Golden Age and then introduce Alfred via the Waynes murder and have him become his guardian under the Waynes last will and Testament, the reason he wasn't there before was due to the family matters in Europe where he's from and even raising his own daughter which he finds out the same time Bruce is born.

Wife/Lover dies as Bruce is a teenager and the daughter is transferred to Alfred via the WIfe/lovers last wishes. This gives Bruce someone else to bounce off on as he grows up.

Bruce still does his Batman Journey after he gets out of high school and later becomes Batman like usual in all of the mythos.

With Alfred and his daughter in tow they try to assist Bruce early on...with the Golden Age Adventures of gangsters and criminals starting off. It is only until we see Dick Greyson and the death of his family does the super criminals come in and thus the rest of the Golden Age and Silver age Adventures come in for Batman and Robin.

Dick grows up and becomes Nightwing.

Then we get to our first change...Batman encounters both Jason Todd and Carrie Kelly, this time it's official and if Frank Millar complains, then we ignore as Carrie Kelly is product to DC that Millar created for the company and thus DC Owns the rights Not Frank Millar.

Thus enter the Robin twins that help out Batman a bit more and make him feel a bit more okay.

Jason does Die like before and remains Dead this time and there is NO TIM DRAKE as he is a person that SHOULD NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES BE INVOLVED IN BATMAN'S LIFESTYLE.

So it is just Carrie and Bruce with Stephanie Brown coming in later and becoming the Spoiler.

I know you're asking: What about Batgirl. Bat-Girl and Batwoman and Bat-woman...We still retain the Silver Age stories of the ORIGINAL BAT-WOMAN AND BAT-GIRL. As for Barbara Gordon...no Batgirl, but still crippled and becomes Oracle later.

Now Cass Cain comes in later and still retains her original tale.

There is a Damien Wayne, but this one is genetically made and not birth from Talia. Bruce and the others tried to change him for the better considering his young age.

That's how I would do it for the Batman family.

[dietrich]

Reducing...how about rebooting...First things is first...EVERY BIT OF BATMAN LORE IS ON THE TABLE AND THAT INCLUDES FRANK MILLAR'S STUFF.

First off start with just Bruce like back in the Golden Age and then introduce Alfred via the Waynes murder and have him become his guardian under the Waynes last will and Testament, the reason he wasn't there before was due to the family matters in Europe where he's from and even raising his own daughter which he finds out the same time Bruce is born.

Wife/Lover dies as Bruce is a teenager and the daughter is transferred to Alfred via the WIfe/lovers last wishes. This gives Bruce someone else to bounce off on as he grows up.

Bruce still does his Batman Journey after he gets out of high school and later becomes Batman like usual in all of the mythos.

With Alfred and his daughter in tow they try to assist Bruce early on...with the Golden Age Adventures of gangsters and criminals starting off. It is only until we see Dick Greyson and the death of his family does the super criminals come in and thus the rest of the Golden Age and Silver age Adventures come in for Batman and Robin.

Dick grows up and becomes Nightwing.

Then we get to our first change...Batman encounters both Jason Todd and Carrie Kelly, this time it's official and if Frank Millar complains, then we ignore as Carrie Kelly is product to DC that Millar created for the company and thus DC Owns the rights Not Frank Millar.

Thus enter the Robin twins that help out Batman a bit more and make him feel a bit more okay.

Jason does Die like before and remains Dead this time and there is NO TIM DRAKE as he is a person that SHOULD NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES BE INVOLVED IN BATMAN'S LIFESTYLE.

So it is just Carrie and Bruce with Stephanie Brown coming in later and becoming the Spoiler.

I know you're asking: What about Batgirl. Bat-Girl and Batwoman and Bat-woman...We still retain the Silver Age stories of the ORIGINAL BAT-WOMAN AND BAT-GIRL. As for Barbara Gordon...no Batgirl, but still crippled and becomes Oracle later.

Now Cass Cain comes in later and still retains her original tale.

There is a Damien Wayne, but this one is genetically made and not birth from Talia. Bruce and the others tried to change him for the better considering his young age.

That's how I would do it for the Batman family.

Oh my you just reminded me, Carrie was the 3rd Robin. I never knew that about her. Awesome. She might not have made it into the main verse but DC incorporated a lot of her story into Tim. Saving Batman, choosing to become Robin, young kid who impressed Batman, didn't come from tragedy, having to train to fit the role, living parents.
So though main canon couldn't have Carrie herself some elements of what made her unique still found their way into the main verse.


I only learned all that today on Reddit

[md62]

It's an old answer that DC came up with over 50 years ago... multiple earths. Have different versions of Batman on different earths with various members of the Bat Family.

E0 Batman has Dick as Robin first now replaced by Damian. Babs as Batgirl. Kate Kane as Batwoman.

The rest (Jason, Tim, Cass, Steph, Kathy and Bette Kane) take place on other earths.

[Cmbmool]

In my eyes the Likes of Duke, Tim Drake should have NEVER GOTTEN INVOLVED WITH BATMAN IN THE FIRST PLACE. As they had families and once they got involved with Bruce Guess what happened to their family ?

Honestly, there are reasons why Batman has kids that are troubled and orphans and not kids with ACTUAL LIVING PARENTS!!!

[lemonpeace]

In my eyes the Likes of Duke, Tim Drake should have NEVER GOTTEN INVOLVED WITH BATMAN IN THE FIRST PLACE. As they had families and once they got involved with Bruce Guess what happened to their family ?

Honestly, there are reasons why Batman has kids that are troubled and orphans and not kids with ACTUAL LIVING PARENTS!!!

Well Duke's parents are...not exactly suitable to rear him. His mom and foster father are jokerized and his actual father is an immortal villain who he just found out about. Duke was in the system before Bruce took him in temporarily before handing over custody to his Cousin Jay. Also, Bruce recruited Duke because he was already eyeing him due to his powers/metahuman heritage and was already trying the hero thing on his own.

[Cmbmool]

Well Duke's parents are...not exactly suitable to rear him. His mom and foster father are jokerized and his actual father is an immortal villain who he just found out about. Duke was in the system before Bruce took him in temporarily before handing over custody to his Cousin Jay. Also, Bruce recruited Duke because he was already eyeing him due to his powers/metahuman heritage and was already trying the hero thing on his own.

So one would say that Duke is the modern take on Carrie Kelly, right ?

[Coal Tiger]

A boy who loses his family and then creates a new one is an integral part of the character, as is the "lone" vigilante who finds wayward orphans and molds them into crime-fighting machines. The things you're describing as a problem aren't actually problems and erasing beloved characters because DC might neglect them isn't actually a solution.

[KurtW95]

Take out Harper, Duke, Kate, Damian, and Claire. If you want, have them on another Earth. I would rather the mainstream continuity bring back the OG Kanes and have Tim as the main Robin. Steph and Cass should be more Batfamily adjacent along with Kathy and Bette. Let the main Batfamily be Bruce, Dick, Tim, Barbara, and Jason.

[Frontier]

I don't think it's a matter of reducing the batfamily per say, but more a matter of efficiency in how they are used. So I'm gonna pitch a little wild here. For one, it's time to either consolidate them into an X-Men type team or let them follow their own distinct individual paths. I'm gonna go with the latter. We put a hold on introducing new Gotham character for a while while they establish the ones we have. Everyone sans Duke and Tim have a look that is distinctly their own so my for step would be getting those two in some duds they are uniquely their own (and give Tim his own name as well)

You don't think Duke's Signal look is visually distinct?

I think Tim's Robin costumes are all very visually distinctly his, even if they do tend to get re-appropriate for the other Robins in adaptions. It's almost like Tim is so entrenched in the Robin identity that he's basically an IP farm for the other Robins .

[Agent Z]

Is Kate really much more of a supernatural specialist than Bruce? Yeah she had the Religion of Crime and the vampire thing but over his career Batman has dealt with far more supernatural threats than Kate. On top of his connections to magical individuals such as Diana, Zatanna, Constantine, Jason Blood/Etrigan and others. I think Bruce is well versed in dealing with the supernatural and would say he surpasses Kate in that area.

That doesn't make him a specialist in that area. Just somebody who has a lot of encounters with it. It's like me saying I'm a doctor because my mother was one.

[Aahz]

That doesn't make him a specialist in that area. Just somebody who has a lot of encounters with it.

But thats basically the same with Kate, nothing in her training and skill sets makes her in any form more qualified to handle supernatural threats than any other Batfamily member.

I think the Batfamily members that are imo most qualified to handle supernatural stuff are imo Jason (due to his All Cast training and powers), Michael Lane and maybe Damian (not sure how much his training covered Supernatural stuff).

[CPSparkles]

You don't think Duke's Signal look is visually distinct?

I think Tim's Robin costumes are all very visually distinctly his, even if they do tend to get re-appropriate for the other Robins in adaptions. It's almost like Tim is so entrenched in the Robin identity that he's basically an IP farm for the other Robins .

You mean the Robin suit that was designed for Dick Grayson and inspired by Dick Grayson and created with Dick Grayson in mind by an artist who who to this day will not acknowledge any other Robins aside from Dick Grayson? That outfit. The outfit that is Dick's original outfit modified with tights and revers cape [3/4 modifications] because movie?

Tim got the suit because happened to be robin in comics at the time but it was Dick's. Dick Grayson is firmly entrenched in Robin identity. Dick Grayson IS the IP farm for Robins.

Everything about that outfit is him. The creator was thinking about the Robin he grew up with when he designed it and he came up with the design based on what Dick GraysonRobin specifically would need based on traits that were unique to Dick. Not Jason or Tim but Dick that is how the footwear was born fyi. With such personalised details I have to disagree with you because it's still Grayson hat's being farmed.


Okay Rant over.

[Caivu]

But thats basically the same with Kate, nothing in her training and skill sets makes her in any form more qualified to handle supernatural threats than any other Batfamily member.

Except that she deals with it more often and on a larger scale than the others do.