Bros [I wish this was their canon relationship]
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Damian and Identity
So, in the newest issue of Teen Titans, Alfred tells Damian this.
“You have the distinct privilege of knowing who you are and how you fit into this life, as you bear the name Wayne.”
For context, he’s explaining to Damian why he’s protecting Jason and trying to get him to talk to Jason rather than fight him. All that’s fair enough, but this description of Damian seems highly inaccurate to me.
Damian has a lot of privileges, wealth being the obvious one, but I always thought that the central conflict of his character was that he didn’t know who he was. Damian’s whole identity has been fed to him by his mother and, now that he’s left her, he’s trapped between the ideologies of his mother and father. One of them is an assassin, the other a thou-shall-not-kill vigilante. Choosing between those two lives is, essentially, choosing between his parents. He’s always seemed somewhat insecure of his position in Batman’s family, which makes sense because he is the only biological child of Bruce Wayne, which makes him the odd one out, and the only one who came to him as an unrepentant killer. He was also rejected by Bruce a number of times early on, including when Bruce first came back to find that Dick had made him Robin.
Here are a few good examples of Damian’s insecurities:
In Batman and Robin (2009), Damian worries that when Bruce comes back, he and Dick won’t get to be Batman and Robin anymore. Being Robin is something that, to him, means he belongs, and he’s afraid that Bruce will take it away.
In Red Robin (2009), Tim’s inclusion of Damian on a list of heroes he’s made plans to take down sets Damian off as he sees it as a rejection, not only of him, but of the effort that he’s put in to respect and follow the values of the vigilante side of his family. (It’s worth noting that Damian had tried to kill Tim before. Twice. At least.) After this incident, Dick says of Damian, “He practically bleeds the need to be accepted.”
In Batgirl (2009), Damian tries to convince Stephanie that Bruce has time for him. Stephanie doesn’t buy it.
The War of the Robins arc in the New 52, in which he tried to defeat all of the Robins. He outright stated that he wanted to prove he was the best “to you, to him, to me.”
The Nightwing Must Die arc, in which he worries about Dick having a child as he thinks that that child would effectively push him out of the relationship he has with Dick.
His issue of Batman: Prelude to the Wedding focuses on his fear of Bruce and Selina having a child because, again, he fears being replaced.
Damian has a lot of bravado about being Bruce’s blood son, but that’s all it is. Bravado. He’s terrified of being replaced. Terrified of rejection. After all, his mother rejected him for embracing his father’s ideals, so where will he go if they decide that they don’t want him either? To say that Damian, who was raised with opposite ideals to the entire Batfamily, knows where he belongs in the vigilante world simply because his surname is Wayne is just bizarre.
It is, admittedly, not the first time I’ve side-eyed Damian’s portrayal in the current Teen Titans run. The secret prison still seems out of character to me, especially as Damian recruited Djinn by talking about redemption and how he’d done bad things too. This is character whose focus was redemption from pretty much the moment he came in up until the end of the New 52 (it’s the entire point of Robin: Son of Batman). It doesn’t make sense for him to decide that villains cannot be redeemed. I suppose, an argument can be made that Damian was raised to be bad and that he could see adult villains as people who’ve chosen evil, but I can’t find a textual basis for that level of nuance.
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The secret prison is something I can see Damian doing. Imprisoning someone doesn't automatically mean he believes they can't be redeemed.
Last edited by dietrich; 02-19-2019 at 10:47 AM.
I will miss the TTs when this run ends.. That seems that will be soon..
Unfortunatelly Damian was not confirmed in this batman comic with the ninja turtles..
Last edited by adrikito; 02-19-2019 at 06:30 AM.
I think all that Alfred meant was that Damian being a Wayne provided him a certain sense of self that can never be taken from him.
Even if he’s still trying to figure out who he wants to be, Damian’s last name guarantees him a place in the family and the world at large so he never has to doubt who he is. Even with all his insecurities, Damian still believes he’s worthy to fight alongside his father and eventually replace him.
I agree that it certainly provides a sense of self. [It also crushing him under the weight of expectation and damn's him]
I disagree that it guarantees him a place when his father rejected him. The man who raised his father rejected him as well despite his name, didn't stop the family viewing him as a demon or an enemy.
It doesn't stop Barry from telling Wallace not hang with him. In-fact being a Wayne hasn't ever guaranteed Damian anything. Dick accepted him because he was a young boy in need on his own in gotham doing hero work.
Being a Wayne guarantees nothing.
10 year old Damian Wayne wondering the world alone because his mum disowned him because he chose Bruce Wayne yet he couldn't go home to Bruce Wayne because even though a minor with the Wayne name it means **** to Alfred when it comes to Bruce being happy. His name isn't even a guarantee that he'll have a roof over his head.
Damian's only family that loves him unconditionally is Dick maybe Bruce and that isn't because he is a Wayne. Tim dislikes because of his name. Jason is indifferent. Alfred is indifferent.
Damian is trying to prove that he is worthy to fight alongside his father and eventually replace him. there's a difference.
That's fair. I posted that not so much because of the TT issue but because I see some fans pushing this narrative about how Damian didn't earn Robin [not even going to go into how Robin isn't something that has to be earned]. How he didn't work for it.
How it was given to him because son of batman.
Which isn't true.
Or how he gets special treatment [in-story] because 'Wayne' which again isn't true.
Fans like to ignore what's written in favour of putting their own spin on thing's.
This post made some good points and examples hence why I put it here.
They do have a lot in common aside from Talia giving them life. Shame writers don't seem interested in exploring their views on the similarities or their relationship based on those common threads. They just want to pull em apart and pile on the angst.
I agree that Jason likely knows more about the other since it's one of his open cases but I do recall that RedBird happened because of Dick. H e encouraged Damian to run his own play if he didn't feel Batman was making the right call.
Imo exploring the differences leads to a more a healthy and fruitful dynamic. Besides I dont like the Talia commonality anyway. Suddenly their backstories are tied but at the same time they aren't. It would be fine if they existed on different Earths. But in canon it doesn't work.
Their backstories are already tied because of Talia and the LOA [until DC retcons that] The problem is that writers aren't exploring their differences even. This team up capitalised on their similarities to give it legitimacy. Damian teaming up suddenly with Red Hood out of the blue seemed plausible mostly because of their history as Robin's who've broken the no kill rule.
Rather than exploiting similarities in such a shallow manner I would rather proper exploration. It could even serve as a way to sever those ties or add distance by showing the similarities are merely superficial. Highlight their differences.