Anyone else feel annoyed that Dick is pretty much expected to become Batman?

[RickWJ324]

I have a love for DC COMICS and BATMAN is my hero of choice! It's what started me collecting comics/toys seriously in the 80's and much of my childhood in the 70's was molded by my affection for the character (toys, '66 show, cartoons, underoos, you name it...I had it). With that said, Dick is my second favorite character (be it in Robin form or as Nightwing). I would have no problems at all with DC retiring Bruce at some point (be it a death, crippling, retirement, etc) and Dick is THE choice to become Batman in my universe. Having him as Batman and Damien as Robin would be a perfect match in my mind and would be a suitable PERMANENT solution if DC ever decided to sideline Bruce.

[Restingvoice]

Despite being Nightwing longer than he was Robin by now, he's still expected to succeed Bruce. It's worse when you realize that Batman has at least four other Robins that could fill the role.

A little bit. There's a certain pride of being the go-to guy to be Batman, but it's also not what the character wants if he can help it.

I personally like it for the closed circle of storytelling. The guy Batman trained became Batman while he trained Batman's son, but I'm also okay with the other kids becoming Batman. Tim, for example, who is often touted as the best detective.

All in all, I'm okay with him being the second, immediate Batman, but not permanently. Only until Tim's body fit the costume for example, and by the time Damian grew up, he should be wise enough to take over.

I feel like it him constantly being attached to Batman is limiting to his character.

This is the bigger problem because this affects him even when he's not Batman.

[Tulku]

Terry is basically JPV with a cartoon.

And this is basically wrong.

[oasis1313]

Terry is basically JPV with a cartoon.

I love both Terry and JPV, and I don't see the similarities.

[Tzigone]

I don't want any of them to ever become Batman long-term. I think each should forge their own legend as a hero. Their own hero, not the one shaped by Bruce's issues. Dick is Nightwing. The others should find their own roles, too (I'm kinda iffy on the names Red Robin and Red Hood because of how/why they chose to use them, but they are established now).

I don't think there should be another Batman (Superman, Flash, etc.). IMO, that weights the newbie down with old expectations. Defining their own roles is much more empowering.

I adored Bart not wanting to be Kid Flash.

I'm frankly tired of the retreads on name. I can maybe tolerate Robin as a role everyone grows out of, but we've had at least 3 Batmans, 3 Kid Flashes, 3 Batgirls, 4 or 5 Superboys, 2 Flashes, 2 Blue Beetles, 2 Atoms, and who knows how many other repeats (and this is just ones that were "really" that way in comics rather than alternate timelines or possible futures or whatnot). And most of them in one continuity (post-Crisis). I'd like new characters with new identities.

Of course, I understand from a marketing/business perspective why this is done. Doesn't mean I have to like it.

[josai21]

Honestly, I don't like Dick as Batman.

Batman to me is more than just the name and the mantle, it's a style of vigilantism. It's about detective work, tactics, and strategy. The best Batman comics imo have not been the huge epics or the ones that have bruce using his physical skills to win. The best have been the ones where it is a chess match from the beginning. Each move reveals a different plan.

All of the robins are highly intelligent and strategists, but only one of them has been written in a similar way. Tim's later Robin and Red Robin series read like that chess match. That's why, if I was choosing a new batman, it would be Tim. He embodies that element of Bruce that none of the other's do.

[Godlike13]

Sure he does. Zzz....

[josai21]

Sure he does. Zzz....

Yes, he does.

Just like Dick represents Bruce's hope and enduring will.
Jason represents Bruce's brutality and anger.
Damian represents Bruce's desire for family and its importance.
Tim represent's Bruce's strategic mind.

Each of these characters are written different. This doesn't make Tim a better character or the others anyworse. I think we've seen that Tim as Batman ends poorly, but he still represents that aspect of Batman best.And it's that aspect of Batman I find the most important. You're free to disagree on that importance but you would have to ignore the years of comics that show the importance of strategy to Tim's character.

[Arsenal]

If Tim is the most Bruce like of the obvious available candidates than that makes him (imo) the worse choice. If you are gonna have somebody replace Bruce as the bat, it should be somebody who brings something distinctly new to the role that Bruce never did. To do anything less defeats the purpose of replacing him at all.

[Rac7d*]

I feel like it him constantly being attached to Batman is limiting to his character. Despite being Nightwing longer than he was Robin by now, he's still expected to succeed Bruce. It's worse when you realize that Batman has at least four other Robins that could fill the role.

why and so what if he is,
in the end it his choice to put on the cowl

[nhienphan2808]

(Holding back my not pretty comment on Tim and his fans)

While it’s tragic that Batman is already twisted into this figure who created crimes and thus become a legacy and should be that from now on, I will always refer Bruce as the only one with no inheritance aspect to it, both for his father and his sons. Dick did well, probably because he understands it the most that you can never be Batman. Anyone that thinks they can be another Batman, fails.

[Godlike13]

Yes, he does.

Just like Dick represents Bruce's hope and enduring will.
Jason represents Bruce's brutality and anger.
Damian represents Bruce's desire for family and its importance.
Tim represent's Bruce's strategic mind.

Each of these characters are written different. This doesn't make Tim a better character or the others anyworse. I think we've seen that Tim as Batman ends poorly, but he still represents that aspect of best.And it's that aspect of Batman I find the most important. You're free to disagree on that importance but you would have to ignore the years of comics that show the importance of strategy to Tim's character.

Dick was playing chess long before Tim even existed. Let’s cut the crap, the implication that the others are too stupid to be Batman is utterly ridiculous. Oh, but they embody his intangible will and emotions lol. Just because they don’t require someone to tell readers how smart they are every time they fart doesn’t mean they don’t know how to play chess and don’t have their own years of comics to back it up.
This boy band farce where the Robins are put in a box, and they have them try to claim general aspects and abilities, is just antiquated and lazy. I refuse to buy into it. I’ve read far too many years of comics and seen what they can do. Hell Tim isn’t even the smartest one, Babs is

[nhienphan2808]

Yeah you would think if he’s so smart he would get along with Babs the other smart one, and the only time she speaks up to him wouldn’t be to slam him down. At his core, Batman is a hero, not a cardboard character that you can cut into pieces like that.

[lemonpeace]

Yes, I'm not even a huge fan of Dick Grayson (ironically I do find his time as Ric bouncing off the replacement Nightwings interesting for the limited time it'll go) but I do find it stifling that he's expected to become Batman. I thought him becoming Nightwing was supposed to be him becoming his own man, being more or less destined to be Batman one day seems antithetical to that. I'm of the school of thought that Batman is a manifestation of Bruce Wayne's pain and it should die with him, allowing for his legacy to be the people he's nurtured coming into their own and becoming their own heroes. Dick is Nightwing, Jason is Red Hood, Barbara is Oracle/Batgirl, Tim is Man-Child, Cassandra is Orphan/Black Bat, etc etc. The only one I think it would make sense to become Batman is Damien and that's only because that kind of entitlement is his character flaw.

[josai21]

Dick was playing chess long before Tim even existed. Let’s cut the crap, the implication that the others are too stupid to be Batman is utterly ridiculous. Oh, but they embody his intangible will and emotions lol. Just because they don’t require someone to tell readers how smart they are every time they fart doesn’t mean they don’t know how to play chess and don’t have their own years of comics to back it up.
This boy band farce where the Robins are put in a box, and they have them try to claim general aspects and abilities, is just antiquated and lazy. I refuse to buy into it. I’ve read far too many years of comics and seen what they can do. Hell Tim isn’t even the smartest one, Babs is

I never once said that the others are too stupid to be batman. It's about a certain kind of intelligence that writers express in away that I honestly have not seen done with the other robins.

You see it in the Red Robin comics or the Robin comics. The authors hinted at clues along the way and then pulled them together at the very end.

Strategy and smarts are not as important to the essence of Dick, Jason, or Damian's characters. They could be perfectly fine being ninjas and overcoming the odds with their physicality. They are better than Tim in that regard. What makes the intelligence factor is not that Tim is somehow magically smarter than they are, but the importance of intelligence to the character that has been their since day one.

You're seeing only one kind of intelligence. Each of the Robins (and Batgirls) have their own flavor of intelligence. Tim's flavor of intelligence (and it's importance to him as a character) is most likely Bruce. Just like Bruce will never be on par as a fighter with any of the Justice League, neither will Tim ever be on par with any of the robins as a pure fighter. It's the importance of intelligence and cunning that makes the difference.