In your mind - how old are the Batman characters?

[Hcmarvel]

(Inspired by a discussion in the Nightwing thead)

So I'm not asking for what canon states the ages as, but instead...but when you picture the characters in your head, how old do you think they should each be?

For me -

Batman - 43

Nightwing - 26

Barbara Gordon - 26

Jason Todd - 22

Tim Drake - 18

Damian 14

Gordon - 60

Alfred - 68

Catwoman - 35

[Restingvoice]

I like to go as close as canon as possible but the general impression I got is this
Old - Alfred, Leslie, Gordon - age relative
Adult - Bruce, Selina, Babs, Kate, Talia - 30 somethings
Young Adult - Dick, Jason, Jean-Paul, Luke - 20 somethings
Teen - Tim, Cass, Steph, Duke
Kid - Damian
I still put Dick in Young Adult simply because I haven't actually seen him written as Older Adult. Young Adult is what DC's been selling me, so I have no imagination on Adult Dick.
On the other hand, I know Babs mainly from Yvonne Craig then a smattering of Oracle, enough to make me feel she's an adult compared to Dick that when we hit New 52 YA Babs weird me out.

[Tzigone]

It's iffy for me. It's difficult for me to think of just one of them and not make all their ages relative. So, there's a difference when I make an effort to do that v. the family as whole. But certain ones are still tied to each other, rather than independent (Bruce and Selina, Barbara and Jim, etc.)

When Bruce come to mind, it's the older Bruce with all of them there. Mid 40s.

Dick - always an adult by default in my head. Minimum 23, maximum 27, and working solo as Nightwing.

Alfred - he varies - I don't actually like him as Bruce's parent, but it's there. I tend to think of him as "15 years older than Bruce" but I'm really very variable and accepting of a wide variety of ages (not like he gets drawn a consistent relative age over the decades)

Barbara - also tend to think of in Oracle or post-Oracle phase - early 30s

Jason - I don't really follow the character, as I'm not an anti-hero guy. I tend to think of him as 20-23. This would not happen with me thinking of him relative to Dick and Tim (as a Batfam), because I hate him being made closer to Dick's age than Tim's - he's supposed to be no more than 2 years off Tim and at least 7 years off Dick.

Tim - Big division there. To me there are two Tims - the 15 year old solo-Robin series guy who lived with his dad and an 18/19 year-old independent Tim (neither Red Robin or Drake as a code name works for me, but he should get one of his own)

Steph - always the same age as Tim

Cass - still stuck in the past with her. Relative age would be 2 years older than Tim, but I still tend to think of her as 17/18

Damian - For a while I still thought of him as 10, since they spent a while recalcitrant to draw him older, and he was seemingly aged up for no other reason that to be a teen for Teen Titans, but the 13/14 year old is overtaking that now. Lack of kids Jon contributes.

Gordon - 25-35 years older than Barbara if I'm thinking about Barbara. If I'm not, then he's not a young man when he and Bruce meet and not yet retired when Damian arrives. Beyond that, I'm good.

Selina - within 2 years of Bruce's age (close enough to call "the same age" among people in their 20s). I hate her significantly younger and especially when she's made closer to Dick's age. I do have an attachment to their first meeting. When Dick is a kid and Robin and Bruce is in his mid-20s. She's an adult, a peer to Bruce when they meet. Not <21. And the timing of that meeting and them coming into each other's lives matters to me. I usually think of her in context of Bruce. Usually current day, so 40s, but if I'm thinking past, I line it up with how old Bruce should be.

Edit: I posted about this on my Tumblr a few years ago. Opinions have moved a little since then as characters age, and those were all pegged relative (the entire family consistent instead picking each one at random points in time), and because I've grown increasingly unfond of Alfred raising Bruce the more I've thought about it.

[lemonpeace]

Batman: mid 40s (I'll say 45)

Nightwing: late 20s (about 27)

Jason Todd - mid 20s (about 24 or 25)

Tim Drake - early 20s, 19 at youngest (in my mind he should be 20)

Stephanie Brown: she is like a year or two older than Tim I think, so early 20s (about 21-22ish)

Damian: mathmatically he should be about 15

Cassandra Cain: she should be about the same age as Tim, so early 20s or 19 at minimum (about 20) but in-canon I don't know the math with her current history

Duke Thomas: mid to late teens, Duke is the only one who's age I know for a fact because I've read all his appearances. He should be at least 18 currently (possibly pushing 19 depending on much time is affected by Death Metal)

Barbara Gordon: late 20s (about 28 or 29)

Alfred: -1 year (ya know, because he's dead)

Catwoman: late 30s to early 40s (I'll say 42)

[Tzigone]

Duke Thomas: mid to late teens, Duke is the only one who's age I know for a fact because I've read all his appearances. He should be at least 18 currently (possibly pushing 19 depending on much time is affected by Death Metal)

I tend to think of him relative to Damian's age, so 2 to 3 years older than Damian. 3 years to be 16 when Damian is 13 or 2 years because Damian was in the Gotham Academy freshman class about that time (though, of course, he was only there to fetch a book, and his academic skills are advanced in many areas). I know this is asking about perception, not canon, but the way I think of him is relative to Damian because at one time I was quite interested in the dynamic those two had.

[J. D. Guy]

I tend to think of him relative to Damian's age, so 2 to 3 years older than Damian. 3 years to be 16 when Damian is 13 or 2 years because Damian was in the Gotham Academy freshman class about that time (though, of course, he was only there to fetch a book, and his academic skills are advanced in many areas). I know this is asking about perception, not canon, but the way I think of him is relative to Damian because at one time I was quite interested in the dynamic those two had.

If I'm not mis-remembering, he was 17 in We Are Robin, which was the time Duke and Damian's Robin War encounter happened. Of course, Damian wasn't officially made 13 until the start of Rebirth, which happened later.

[Tzigone]

If I'm not mis-remembering, he was 17 in We Are Robin, which was the time Duke and Damian's Robin War encounter happened. Of course, Damian wasn't officially made 13 until the start of Rebirth, which happened later.

He's labeled as 16 in the bio in We Are Robin #4. But that may well be contradicted by another reference. Nonetheless, Riko Sheridan was at Gotham Academy in issue #13 (believe there is a continuity issue there, but can't quite recall what it was). Damian was a student there in issue #7. I liked GA, so I do think about it a bit in terms of Damian's age, which affects my perception of Duke's.

[Tsukiakari1203]

Alfred and Leslie- 60s-70s
Jim- 54
Kathy- 49
Bruce- 42
Kate- 39
Babs- 32
Dick- 29
Helena Bertinelli- 28
Bette- 27
Jason- 22
Helena Wayne- 22
Cass- 20
Steph- 19
Harper- 19
Tim- 18
Duke- 17
Cullen- 16
Damian- 14

[lemonpeace]

I tend to think of him relative to Damian's age, so 2 to 3 years older than Damian. 3 years to be 16 when Damian is 13 or 2 years because Damian was in the Gotham Academy freshman class about that time (though, of course, he was only there to fetch a book, and his academic skills are advanced in many areas). I know this is asking about perception, not canon, but the way I think of him is relative to Damian because at one time I was quite interested in the dynamic those two had.

yeah he's supposed to be about 3 years older than Damian, because he was 16 during We are Robin when Damian should've still been about 13; but two years have passed for Duke since We are Robin. he said he was training with Batman before becoming Signal, making him 17 and then after Justice League's 6th Dimension arc and Year of the Villain took at least a year has passed (the 6th dimension took a few month by itself) so by the time Outsiders ended he should be about 18. that's why I put Damian at closer to 15, I know DC wants to pretend he's still 13 but to me he's just small for his age. in my mind Duke should always be 2-3 years older than Damian but about a 1 younger than Tim and Cass so that he can maintain a plausibly close relationship with Cass and Damian, as I feel he's the Bat-member who would have the most genuine and equal relationship given his background working with kids in his community.

[Tzigone]

in my mind Duke should always be 2-3 years older than Damian but about a 1 younger than Tim and Cass so that he can maintain a plausibly close relationship with Cass and Damian, as I feel he's the Bat-member who would have the most genuine and equal relationship given his background working with kids in his community.

Ah, obviously you are coming from a different (more current) perspective than me. I live in the old world, where Tim was 7(ish, everything ish in timing comics) years older than Damian. And all the Bats aren't close, really to me. Everyone is close to someone, but no one is close to everyone.

[failo.legendkiller]

Bruce 42
Barbara 31
Dick 30
Helena 29
Jason 25
Tim 21
Cassandra 21
Stephanie 19
Damian 15

[lemonpeace]

Ah, obviously you are coming from a different (more current) perspective than me. I live in the old world, where Tim was 7(ish, everything ish in timing comics) years older than Damian. And all the Bats aren't close, really to me. Everyone is close to someone, but no one is close to everyone.

ah, I see where your coming from. placing Duke in the pre-Flashpoint is a little hard for me, but I think from a narrative standpoint I would probably have him closer to Damian age than an older Tim. while I feel an older Duke could be cool in pre-Flashpoint, I'm with you, I would want to maintain Duke and Damian's relationship.

[Tzigone]

ah, I see where your coming from. placing Duke in the pre-Flashpoint is a little hard for me, but I think from a narrative standpoint I would probably have him closer to Damian age than an older Tim. while I feel an older Duke could be cool in pre-Flashpoint, I'm with you, I would want to maintain Duke and Damian's relationship.

I haven't read much in a while, and so have seen almost no Duke/Tim interaction, so it's not on my radar. I understand he's in Outsiders with Cass, but I've never read the title, so have never seen them interact at all. So Damian/Duke is a relationship that I like to maintain. And Tim/Steph and Steph/Cass and so on. Outside of Damian, I'd rather see Duke build some non-Bat connections. The more a character stays completely under the Bat-umbrella, the more easily discarded when the next new Bat-mentee comes along. I'm actually not at all interested in Bruce/Duke, Bruce/Steph, or Bruce/Barbara or a few others having any particularly close dynamics. But since they aren't similarly-aged, it doesn't effect my perception of character ages the same way.

[OopsIdiditagain]

Bruce - late 40s (can't be too young if he adopted Dick)

Dick - 25

Barbara - 30

Jason - 21

Tim - 18

Steph - 19

Damian - 13/14

Cass - 16

Duke - 16

[Jackalope89]

Bruce-48
Selina-46
Dick-28
Babs-29
Jason-23
Cass-23
Tim-18
Steph-19
Damian-14 (split the difference)

Honestly, I liked Cass and Jason being practically the same age. In an Elseworlds, I would like to see Jason's Robin to Cass' Batgirl.