How long into Batman's career should Robin join him?

[TheRay]

My initial thought was 3 years, but I find it important to note that we can't necessarily say that the real world timeline and the comic book timeline are succinct.

[Blue22]

Right after he cleaned up the crime family but before the rise of the freaks. There should be a period of time where Batman thinks everything's safer, and he can say, okay, I'll let this kid have one to make him feel he can regain control of his life, something I couldn't have, since it's just a small time crook.
Then the next day The Joker showed up, and he's like, oh shoot, I effed up. Now the kid got bravado AND skills. So short of actually tranquilizing him I can't stop him from coming with me and things are getting more dangerous.

1 year.

This feels like the best scenario to me.

[TheRay]

How long was it into his "career" before Batman started wearing his own Batman uniform?

Whenever Alfred was finished ironing it.

[Tzigone]

I prefer it being about a year. It works if you count golden age comics going real time early on (not important). It gives Bruce time to become comfortable in the role first. But most importantly to me, it keeps Dick's "seniority" - that he's been a hero longer than pretty much everyone except Superman and Batman. That being younger doesn't make him a rookie compared to them. That he was around before the vast bulk of the rogues.

I strongly prefer Dick there before Alfred. I dislike Alfred raising Bruce. I don't like that sort of major retcon, generally. While I enjoyed when introduced to the idea in Batman Begins, after I started reading comics, and the more I read and the more I thought I about it, the more I disliked it. This is one is tainted, too, be coinciding with Bruce becoming far more emotionally damaged and so it sort of leads to Alfred as responsible. I believe they have a very unhealthy dynamic as adults. Though, to be fair, modern Bruce has an unhealthy relationship with most people. I don't like that Alfred's entire lift is basically in service of Bruce (made worse by a lack of relationship with a daughter) instead of having his own, independent life. I don't like that it's resulted in Alfred at times doing a large disservice to the younger ones in favor of what he thinks is good for Bruce. That they are secondary to Bruce to Alfred, in a way they (well, Dick) wasn't to him in Pre-COIE. I don't like Alfred being both parent and servant. Also, as a big Dick fan, I don't like that he's displaced Dick as the person who knows Bruce best and whom Bruce most trusts (which was important, once upon a time).

Right after he cleaned up the crime family but before the rise of the freaks. There should be a period of time where Batman thinks everything's safer, and he can say, okay, I'll let this kid have one to make him feel he can regain control of his life, something I couldn't have, since it's just a small time crook.

I really don't want it to be safe - for Bruce to be humoring Dick. I do want things to improve after he becomes Batman, but I don't ever want it to seem like he doesn't have faith in Dick's abilities - including Dick's ability to handle freaks. The entire point of Robin is that he's a kid that's capable of kicking the butts of grown villains - an empowering kid insert. It's not realistic, but neither is Bruce surviving. Back then he called Dick "partner" and meant it. Junior partner, sure, but still partner.

Mind you, I also like a Bruce who has (somewhat) gotten over his parents' murders. Who is motivated by what happened, but not consumed by it. Who is fulfilled by this, and giving Dick the same opportunity to be so. And do it sooner than he got to.

[Jim Kelly]

I strongly prefer Dick there before Alfred. I dislike Alfred raising Bruce. I don't like that sort of major retcon, generally.

I'm the same. One thing this does to Alfred is it makes him much older. In the classic stories, Alfred is older than Bruce--maybe ten years--but not a lot older. And he's done a lot before he comes over to America to buttle. If Alfred has been working for the Waynes since Bruce was born then that makes him an old man by the time Bruce is Batman. Another thing about Alfred is he's proper British. If he's spent most of his life in the U.S.A., why does he still cling to his old country roots? And if he had a full life before going into service for the Waynes, then that makes him even older. I prefer an Alfred who is in his forties and is up to the physical demands of his position.

[Frontier]

I'm the same. One thing this does to Alfred is it makes him much older. In the classic stories, Alfred is older than Bruce--maybe ten years--but not a lot older. And he's done a lot before he comes over to America to buttle. If Alfred has been working for the Waynes since Bruce was born then that makes him an old man by the time Bruce is Batman. Another thing about Alfred is he's proper British. If he's spent most of his life in the U.S.A., why does he still cling to his old country roots? And if he had a full life before going into service for the Waynes, then that makes him even older. I prefer an Alfred who is in his forties and is up to the physical demands of his position.

I mean, it's not like Alfred is in the field so I think even older he has the physicality to do the stuff that is required of him even if it's just one man manning the Bat-Computer or taking care of an entire mansion.

[Ascended]

I'd like to see Dick brought into the mansion somewhere in year 2, then spend a couple years training before hitting the field as an active combatant.

Bruce has been the Bat for 18-ish months; he's past his rookie year and the rookie mistakes, he's taken down Falcone and the second biggest mob boss is on the ropes. Batman has built up momentum and it's becoming clear that he's going to win the war and drive the mobs out of Gotham.

Then Dick comes along, all of eight/ten years old, full of rage and determined to hunt Zucco down. Bruce obviously sees the parallels to his own journey, and wants to give Dick the catharsis Bruce himself never had while also keeping the boy safe. Dick's a slippery little carny kid, there's no way the mansion can keep him contained and Bruce fears Dick will sneak out one night and get himself killed (Dick likely *does* sneak out several times, getting in trouble and moderately hurt along the way). So Bruce decides to train Dick, figuring that will give Dick an outlet for his anger while also pacifying him and keeping him off the streets. Bruce assumes it will take several years to train Dick, and by then Zucco and the other bosses will be behind bars.

But Bruce doesn't anticipate how gods damned talented Dick is. Dick begins his training at the mansion, reading and studying and learning all the things a Bat needs to know; sciences and psychology and law. He trains with Bruce in first aid, programming and combat, learns to drive and pilot, never once going out in the field. And what Bruce learned over the course of years, Dick crams in one. By this point Bruce has taken down most of the major bosses but a handful remain and have dug themselves in for a prolonged siege. Zucco's one of them.

Schooling (mostly) done, Bruce has no real choice but to take Dick out on ride-along's. We're at year 3 now, and Dick is acting as Bruce's lookout, driver, emergency medic, and non-combat support. No fighting. Dick intensifies his own training. Bruce starts to really worry that his plan backfired, and Dick will be hitting the streets years sooner than expected. Dick is now all of ten/eleven years old.

Less than a year later we're at the very start of year 4 and Dick has just turned twelve-ish. All the bosses have been taken down, save Zucco. The freaks have yet to rise up. And Zucco pops up on the Bat radar. To Bruce's horror, Dick has the opportunity to confront Zucco years too soon. But Dick is victorious; his first real vigilante fight is against the guy who killed his parents and Dick won. And Bruce knows that with this, the kid will never stay out of the fight again. Reluctantly, Bruce allows Dick to join him as Robin. That will let Bruce keep the kid close and finish his training, and with Zucco's defeat Bruce figures the city is entering a new, safer era. Little does he know that in year 5/end of 4, the freaks will begin to come out in force.

That's how I'd do it anyway. Something like that at least. I'm mostly making this up as I write so I'd probably change stuff around if I thought about it.

Dick operating as Robin around the age of twelve isn't realistic at all, but neither is the concept of Batman, or flying alien sun gods with laser farts.

[Celgress]

Roughly 3 years certainly no more than 5 years, IMO.

[Tzigone]

Then Dick comes along, all of eight/ten years old, full of rage and determined to hunt Zucco down. Bruce obviously sees the parallels to his own journey, and wants to give Dick the catharsis Bruce himself never had while also keeping the boy safe. Dick's a slippery little carny kid, there's no way the mansion can keep him contained and Bruce fears Dick will sneak out one night and get himself killed (Dick likely *does* sneak out several times, getting in trouble and moderately hurt along the way). So Bruce decides to train Dick, figuring that will give Dick an outlet for his anger while also pacifying him and keeping him off the streets. Bruce assumes it will take several years to train Dick, and by then Zucco and the other bosses will be behind bars.

I tend to the 10-13 year old Dick - no way at all does he act 8 in those early stories to me (yes, I know about the birthday spanking - and the candles, but far more of it has him depicted older, IMO). I also strongly prefer that Bruce always intended him to go out with him. I don't like the "sllippery little carny kid" vibe. I don't need him to sneak out or be out of control. He trained, he learned, and then he went out, just as they both always planned. And while there is a reasonable amount of anger (and pain), I don't care for Dick as consumed by rage.

[king81992]

3-5 years is ideal. In years 1-2, Batman is still establishing himself. Batman in years 3-5 is already established and not jaded enough at this point to be a good mentor.

[Jim Kelly]

My personal explanation for why Bruce takes in Dick (aside from the natural bond of them being kindred spirits) is that Dick is a witness to a crime involving the mob. He needs protective custody and Bruce knows he's the best one to provide that protection. So he gets himself appointed guardian. And Bruce knows that it's not enough to provide security for Dick--he needs to train the boy so he can defend himself when gangsters are trying to kill him.

Bruce might not have initially believed that Dick would become his partner--but the boy takes to his training like a duck to water and their bond grows from there.

[Ascended]

I tend to the 10-13 year old Dick - no way at all does he act 8 in those early stories to me (yes, I know about the birthday spanking - and the candles, but far more of it has him depicted older, IMO). I also strongly prefer that Bruce always intended him to go out with him. I don't like the "sllippery little carny kid" vibe. I don't need him to sneak out or be out of control. He trained, he learned, and then he went out, just as they both always planned. And while there is a reasonable amount of anger (and pain), I don't care for Dick as consumed by rage.

I don't think Dick is consumed by rage as a standard. He's remarkably well adjusted, all things considered. But right after the death of his parents, I think he is that angry. I think the narrative demands that he is. If Dick doesn't have the same ball of rage in the pit of his stomach that Bruce did, then Bruce wouldn't train him. He'd get the kid therapy. Dick has to be that angry, that beyond normal circumstance and endurance, to make Robin work without cheapening what it is to become a Batman. This isn't something just anyone is supposed to do (despite what it's become, which I think is a mistake), Dick's situation has to be pretty f*cking extreme for Bruce to think turning him into a weapon was the best option.

But it's Dick, he doesn't stay eternally mad. He gets justice, he deals with his pain, and he lives his life. Dick's moods are mercurial and deep; he doesn't get mad often or for long, but when he does he gets right pissed off.

And I don't read early Dick as eight years old either, I see him around that 12-14 age range too. But that's as Robin, and I don't like Dick immediately jumping into that role. He has to earn it. So I figure he shows up around eight or ten or something, the same age Bruce was when his parents died, and he spends a couple years training before fighting groups of armed adult criminals willing to kill children. It fits well enough with the OG stories if you squint.

And of course Dick's a slippery carny kid. I'm not saying in that "dirty pickpocket" stereotype sorta way, but he's got mad skills. You think Alfred locking the windows would keep a Flying Grayson confined?

That's just my headcanon, of course. YMMV.

[bat39]

I don't think Dick is consumed by rage as a standard. He's remarkably well adjusted, all things considered. But right after the death of his parents, I think he is that angry. I think the narrative demands that he is. If Dick doesn't have the same ball of rage in the pit of his stomach that Bruce did, then Bruce wouldn't train him. He'd get the kid therapy. Dick has to be that angry, that beyond normal circumstance and endurance, to make Robin work without cheapening what it is to become a Batman. This isn't something just anyone is supposed to do (despite what it's become, which I think is a mistake), Dick's situation has to be pretty f*cking extreme for Bruce to think turning him into a weapon was the best option.

But it's Dick, he doesn't stay eternally mad. He gets justice, he deals with his pain, and he lives his life. Dick's moods are mercurial and deep; he doesn't get mad often or for long, but when he does he gets right pissed off.

And I don't read early Dick as eight years old either, I see him around that 12-14 age range too. But that's as Robin, and I don't like Dick immediately jumping into that role. He has to earn it. So I figure he shows up around eight or ten or something, the same age Bruce was when his parents died, and he spends a couple years training before fighting groups of armed adult criminals willing to kill children. It fits well enough with the OG stories if you squint.

And of course Dick's a slippery carny kid. I'm not saying in that "dirty pickpocket" stereotype sorta way, but he's got mad skills. You think Alfred locking the windows would keep a Flying Grayson confined?

That's just my headcanon, of course. YMMV.

I lean towards the idea that Dick sets off to look for Zucco on his own, and there's nothing Bruce can do to stop him. And he's impressed enough by Dick's initiative to start training him.

Bruce turning this 12 year old kid into a vigilante only makes sense if the kid was on his way to becoming a vigilante anyway - the kind who would eventually get himself killed. By taking Dick under his wing, Bruce helps Dick stay alive and find a positive outlet for his rage and grief that he himself lacked as a child.

[Aahz]

I tend to the 10-13 year old Dick - no way at all does he act 8 in those early stories to me (yes, I know about the birthday spanking - and the candles, but far more of it has him depicted older, IMO).

Even in the story with the birthday spanking the birthday present he gets is his own Batplane, that also doesn't really line up with him being only 8 or 9.

I really don't want it to be safe - for Bruce to be humoring Dick. I do want things to improve after he becomes Batman, but I don't ever want it to seem like he doesn't have faith in Dick's abilities - including Dick's ability to handle freaks.

If you go by post crisis one of his first outing against a freak, ended with Dick getting beaten to pulp by Two-Face.

[Jim Kelly]

If you go by post crisis one of his first outing against a freak, ended with Dick getting beaten to pulp by Two-Face.

Originally, in BATMAN No.5 (Spring 1941), "The Case of the Honest Crook", a gang beat up Robin so bad that the Batman thought he was dead--and the Caped Crusader went after the Boy Wonder's attackers with a vengeance.