Quote Originally Posted by J. D. Guy View Post
Yeah. Narratively, Dre functioned as Duke's foil and rival. The two helped push one another to be better individuals and vigilantes. When all is said and done by the run's end, they were close.

Indeed, alongside Duke himself, Dre is probably the most serious, dedicated and vigilant about being a vigilante superhero. In fact, and discounting the logistics of Dre not existing as a character and concept prior to We Are Robin, Dre's the type of adolescent teenager/young adult who's path would have led him into becoming a vigilante superhero regardless of if the opportunities that We Are Robin afforded him would have presented itself to him. Some of Dre's known current-day passions include a love for mixed martial arts, showing his dedication to bodily discipline, and true crime novels, showing his keen interest in criminal justice. Like Duke himself, Dre was practical made to be an active vigilante.

Were all right in the world, The Signal would be in the midst of his own on-going series and be more properly integrated into the Batverse and DC at large, and Dre would be an active vigilante, even if he would be taking care of his own piece of Gotham unsung and sans little spotlight on his contributions (outside of The Signal's ongoing, which would treat him with the respect and diligence he's earned in We Are Robin, of course).

And considering that Dax and Dre started off with their strong rapport, I like the idea of Dax coming into his own as Dre's "man in the chair".
Exactly, I feel Dre was a well-utilized "Lancer" to Duke's archetypal "Leader", and we saw Dre get geared up by Dre and strike out when We are Robin broke up in the series; he definitely was just as destined for the hero life as Duke. It's shame we're less likely to see Dre and Dax than Riko and Izzy (largely due to DC favoring tired tropes like love triangles) because I feel they have a lot of potential in their own right away from Duke and Batman, possibly into the wider hero society. In a perfect world, I think a good pivot would've been if we had Gnomon try recruiting Riko and Dre, maybe even have Gnomon's motivations and intentions make moral sense, and present the chance for complex character development from all parties. I mean, how cool would it be to see Gnomon nurturing Riko & Dre into full on pro-level heroes/anti-heroes similar to what Bruce did for Duke. I think all the Robin gang have potential and it would definitely strengthen Duke's cast and character mythology for DC to lean into that. it would further ingrain We are Robin (and the elements of it that made it compelling) into Duke's character as the Signal, which at this phase lacks the same depth. hell, my headcanon is eventually one Duke reaches his Future State revolutionary stage, they reform their gang under his banner; like a nod to the Immortal Men, changing the world with his own pseudo "House".

would, could ,should, allat, I'm just happy we see something for Duke. with Robin King Tony Patrick proved to me that not only does he follow what Duke's developments are but that he also knows how to build on things. So i'm very excited to see how he builds on his Batman & the Signal but also the roll Duke's just had (Tales from the Dark Multiverse, Robin King, & Future State). I reeeeeeally hope he moves Duke toward his Future State incarnation with some Gnomon developments on top of that, that would be perfect for me. can't wait for July!