How Would You Reduce The Bat-Family?

[Mutant God]

kill them in a book called A Dark Night

Joker breaks Jason knees and leaves him in Joker's cell which explodes sending a message to Batman

Scarecrow hits Duke and his father with Fear Gas and they end killing each other in a fight.

Harper and her brother are killed by a gang led by Harper's father under orders by Black Mask or Penguin

Catwoman, Vicki Vale and Charlotte Rivers are killed by Calendar Man on Valentine's Day

Gotham Girl dies while fighting Man-bat and Solomon Grundy

Alfred's daughter is eaten by Killer Croc

Batwoman is possessed by an evil spirit for quite awhile maybe.

[king81992]

Just spread them out in different cities.

[Godlike13]

A mixture of spreading them out, disassociation, and cutting the fat.

[The Kid]

Put them in different places. All of them don't need to be in Gotham. I still hate the idea of Batman Inc got nixed by the New 52. The idea of Bruce taking his mission global and leaving Gotham to Dick and co. was such a good one. Really felt like an evolution of the character especially considering his growing competence,

Dick should leave Bludhaven which has run its course and became an overall superhero that goes around the world to solve problems altho he'd still be the chief in Gotham. The Grayson book was the best he's been in a long time. Jason still has his team doing their thing and often travel around. Get Babs out of just Burnside and have her active around greater locations. Focus on reattaching her ties to the greater DC Universe

The rest of can stay in Gotham and do their street hero stuff especially conserding most of them are minors. Kate could be the leader of the Gotham heroes and work with Dick to keep the city safe

[lemonpeace]

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).

Nightwing is fine, he's steadily been doing his thing relatively on his own for a while. Just focus on telling good stories and he's fine. Same thing with Batwoman, Batgirl, and Red Hood. Focus on storytelling and keep them away from Gotham.

The crossovers should be rare and IMPACTFUL. If any substantial amount of Batfamily members team-up, it HAS to be a big deal.

Tim has a place on Young Justice, so I would make that HIS book. Change his mantle and start taking steps toward getting him in the League. My long term plan is to have him end up leading his team into the Justice League's rank like the Titans. From their, I want him and Spoiler holding it down as the titular Detectives of Detective Comics.

Cassandra and Duke are in Outsiders so, assuming that does well, I want them to become the straight black ops team. They go wherever, check out the strange and esoteric things that batman needs to keep an eye on and they get the job done. They're the bat-Marines. Have them rub elbows with Bronze Tiger, Leviathan, Red Lion and Berdunia, League of Shadows, the Immortal beings, exotic energies and entities, etc. Duke needs a rework so I would move Duke closer to Dick as his mentor to buff up his skill set; i want him to take on the acrobatics and espionage aspects of Dick. I also think Duke and Dick is a better match than Duke and Bruce character wise. If Duke isn't supposed to be a sidekick then it would be best to have him be mentored by the only Robin who naturally grew out of the mantle into his own being. I don't want him to be a complete ninja assassin type, I'm thinking more photokinetic Daredevil or solar Spider-Man; our ninja would be all Orphan. Eventually they will take over Outsiders team.

Damian is actually hitting his stride right now for me. I was annoyed with how he was portrayed for a while but I think him being in Supersons and Teen Titans is perfect.

Batman should only appear in his ongoing and Justice League. Nothing else. He's allowed a couple cameos in the other members books but keep that man over there.

If any book get dropped, that character should get an leading arc or back issue in Detective every now and then.

Keep. Azreal. In. Space.

[Armor of God]

kill them in a book called A Dark Night

Joker breaks Jason knees and leaves him in Joker's cell which explodes sending a message to Batman

Scarecrow hits Duke and his father with Fear Gas and they end killing each other in a fight.

Harper and her brother are killed by a gang led by Harper's father under orders by Black Mask or Penguin

Catwoman, Vicki Vale and Charlotte Rivers are killed by Calendar Man on Valentine's Day

Gotham Girl dies while fighting Man-bat and Solomon Grundy

Alfred's daughter is eaten by Killer Croc

Batwoman is possessed by an evil spirit for quite awhile maybe.

LOL but you left you some guys so I'll continue.

Ric Grayson dies in a car crash while attempting to chase Blockbuster
Damian gets impaled by Maps after his first kiss
Steph and Tim are brutalized by Bane, first he breaks their arms while they're trying to go for the buttons on their forearms then he breaks their backs
Cass tries to perform a fancy martial arts move only to end up getting her neck snapped by accident

[Killerbee911]

Nightwing and Red hood are their own individual brands now. Azrael,Signal, Orphan, Spoiler and Oracle should be original brands as well.

Batman,Damian and Batwoman are fine. As long characters as they branch out become their own thing it is fine. I don't see the need to get rid of anyone.

[Darkcrusade25]

Bat Family: Batman, Nightwing, Robin(Tim).

Reserve Bat Family: Red Hood, Robin(Damian), Birds of Prey(Cass Cain,Barbara Gordon, Black Canary, Huntress)

The Rest: separated, retired or killed

Sounds like the lineup from back in the 90s

[Aahz]

Cassandra and Duke are in Outsiders so, assuming that does well, I want them to become the straight black ops team. They go wherever, check out the strange and esoteric things that batman needs to keep an eye on and they get the job done. They're the bat-Marines. Have them rub elbows with Bronze Tiger, Leviathan, Red Lion and Berdunia, League of Shadows, the Immortal beings, exotic energies and entities, etc. Duke needs a rework so I would move Duke closer to Dick as his mentor to buff up his skill set; i want him to take on the acrobatics and espionage aspects of Dick. I also think Duke and Dick is a better match than Duke and Bruce character wise. If Duke isn't supposed to be a sidekick then it would be best to have him be mentored by the only Robin who naturally grew out of the mantle into his own being. I don't want him to be a complete ninja assassin type, I'm thinking more photokinetic Daredevil or solar Spider-Man; our ninja would be all Orphan. Eventually they will take over Outsiders team.

I still think it would make more sense to keep Duke in then "90s Tim Drake" role, since this niche is still unoccupied, if they give him a "level up" he would be suddenly less unique.

I think that the current size of the (core) Batfamily could still work quite well if they would put more effort into planing and coordination, and the writers would treat every character with respect.

[josai21]

So far LemonPeace has the best suggestion imo.

That said, my personal solution is the one which is most controversial and would never happen, but is ultimately necessary if DC comics is going to survive the next 100 years.

In the immortal words of the Joker: "We kill the Bat." And he stays dead.

The inability to let older character pass on and let new ones take there place is why DC comics is stagnant as a story telling company. It is the same characters doing the same things over...and over...and over...and over.

In order to grow, DC Comics must break beyond the stagnancy of its universe and let the characters grow.

I started reading comic books in the early 2000's. I didn't care about Batman or Superman. I cared about Tim Drake. I cared about Cassandra Sandsmark. I cared about Conner Kent. I cared about Bart Allen.

As I read more, I enjoyed comics with Dick Grayson and his generation, but ultimately...I don't really relate to Batman or Superman's generation. You can deage them all you like...it is like reading comic books about my father or grandfather. They are mythical figures I cannot relate to except as in a mentorship role.

So...let Bruce grow old. Let the family age and become who they were meant to be.

Let Alfred pass on in an epic story.

Let Dick become head of the family.

Let the next generation become the current generation.

[lemonpeace]

I still think it would make more sense to keep Duke in then "90s Tim Drake" role, since this niche is still unoccupied, if they give him a "level up" he would be suddenly less unique.

I think that the current size of the (core) Batfamily could still work quite well if they would put more effort into planing and coordination, and the writers would treat every character with respect.

I don't think so. For one, I never found Tim interesting and Duke isn't the same kind of character. Duke's powers are what sets him apart, making him a more capable character is the logical step. He's on a black ops team, he's on a team with warriors like Katana and Orphan, he's supposedly trained with Batman longer than the other Robin's; At a certain point, he has to stop getting his ass whooped. Make him capable enough to make an impression, instead of having people constantly save him. His biggest moment in the Robin War was taking a beating from Damian. He got saved three times and lost almost every fight he was in, in his own mini. Then he got blown up and incapacitated all of On the Outside. That kind of stuff is what makes Duke less unique. Duke's supposed to be a prodigy with superpowers trained by one of the best heroes in the world, but he can't breath without getting knocked out? Nah, buff him up and make him and Cass a (non-lethal) deadly duo. I think he's gone as far as he can go directly next to Batman. His interaction with Dick in Robin War were nice, I think character bounces better off Dick than Bruce. If they are gonna keep insisting Duke is doing his own thing, then they should position him to do so.

[mib86]

In my opinion its enough write some of them out of the scene.
Every artist should write only those he need and has something to to say and put all the others "on the bus": send them in a mission out of Gotham, at the university,at Hong Kong...
Then just leave them there until some new artist will come with some new idea for them.
The fans of these characters will not be too happy but,as fan, i say:better not have a story than to read a bad story....

[Killerbee911]

I forgot to mention there is a world where you put them all in a team book. Call it Outsiders with Nightwing, Red Hood, Oracle, Orphan, and Signal. Think special ops style crime fighting kinda like Birds of Prey . Nightwing Leader,Red Hood Loose Canon, Oracle Tech specialist, Orphan Combat Specialist, Duke Metahuman. Also maybe Lucas Fox as well engineer equipment for the team.

[Fergus]

Yeah, Cass doesn't have Bruce's bad parts but you dance around everything same, she is dark, strong and silent type and as obssesed as Batman when it comes to finish the job. She's not a detective, yeah but so does Terry. Batman doesn't have to be detective forever. Cass never goes grey... She absolutely regrets her past and hate killing people. She's the best candidate Bruce has.

Apologies I meant Cass isn't controlling or willing to go grey.

Terry does do detective work plus he has Bruce. The next successor doesn't have to be like Batman to be effective [even more interesting if they are different like DickBat] however detective skills are necessary along with analytical and tactical skills since their work is a lot more than kicking ass. They have to find the ass 1st before they can kick it.

[Arsenal]

In my opinion its enough write some of them out of the scene.
Every artist should write only those he need and has something to to say and put all the others "on the bus": send them in a mission out of Gotham, at the university,at Hong Kong...
Then just leave them there until some new artist will come with some new idea for them.
The fans of these characters will not be too happy but,as fan, i say:better not have a story than to read a bad story....

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 favorite characters to be freed from limbo, I’d rather not add even more names to the list