Tim Drake where is his place in DC?

[Jackalope89]

The Insider does seem to have a lot of support here. I know I could get behind it, if the hook was right. It's a good name and an interesting suit, but what's Tim gonna do with it? What'll set this apart and make it worth reading? Still, I like it, like how the name plays in the Bat-verse, and the suit having 'powers' is a bit different and might be fun.

Oh, speaking of, why have we never had a 'mech' Bat character? Closest we've had was Jim Gordon but that was a short-term thing, and nobody's tried to push the idea since or build a new legacy around it, outside of a few random instances where Bruce fights Darkseid or Godzilla or something.



I thought so too, but then again....Tim has done some pretty sketchy things over the years. He was usually justified (or we could ignore it as just bad writing) and I'm not saying I agree with the idea of Tim willingly working with Waller, but Tim is spun up awfully tight, and he's been known to snap. It wouldn't be completely out of nowhere if Tim went off the rails. Though honestly, I think if Tim was gonna go 'ends justify the means' then he'd set himself up against Waller, not with her. I think he'd be more like Leviathan was supposed to be, honestly.

Bat Wing is a mech-Bat character.

[Ascended]

Bat Wing is a mech-Bat character.

Sorry, I should've been more specific. The Batwings are 'power armor' guys, like Iron Man (and I do enjoy that), but I'm talking about a full on, oversized mech, more like D.Va (Overwatch), STRIPE (Stargirl) or any number of Gundam-esque anime. Less a 'suit' and more a 'vehicle' y'know?

[Godlike13]

Batman has mechs. Which is why a mech guy would be be bad as it would bastardize them and mess up Gotham's power scale. Batwing and Batman Beyond already walk the line, i mean if they could all just be in Iron Man suits why wouldn't they then.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

The Insider does seem to have a lot of support here. I know I could get behind it, if the hook was right. It's a good name and an interesting suit, but what's Tim gonna do with it? What'll set this apart and make it worth reading? Still, I like it, like how the name plays in the Bat-verse, and the suit having 'powers' is a bit different and might be fun.

Oh, speaking of, why have we never had a 'mech' Bat character? Closest we've had was Jim Gordon but that was a short-term thing, and nobody's tried to push the idea since or build a new legacy around it, outside of a few random instances where Bruce fights Darkseid or Godzilla or something.

For the former, my answer was more of a joke pitch but Scary Harpyseems to like it. Maybe they could give you that pitch?

I saw it as a stop gap for Tim. He's the Robin with the free dance card currently. Now that I think about it, I think Jace might be a good fit because he has looser connections to the Bat family and more of an unknown quantity. Waller would see him as a more likely pick.

But for Tim, Waller might see him as the easiest to convert of the existing cast- Dick is firmly with the Titans and the heir apparent while Jason is too much of a wild card/free spirit to work with her longterm. So most of the tension would be Tim trying to outsmart Waller without getting corrupted by her way of doing things.

I agree with Godlike13- a mecha ruins the power scaling of Batman but it's something he could use for JL missions and special occasions than what he deals with in Gotham.

[Rac7d*]

This got me thinking.

I think Tim could do really well in a Suicide Squad Leader role. Have him retire the cape and mantle, but sees the need for the SS and working with Waller. Could be an interesting route.

Perhaps if he was aged up, the SS are both villains and season military vets they won’t listen to him

[Aahz]

They can have him go Savior and then join SS.

But I don't think that's a version many of Tim fans would want to read about.

Though why not use Red Hood for Suicide Squad.

He would (if properly written) blow up to many heads of his team mates ...
And he is also not the guy who would work for Waller or the Government.

[Aahz]

I thought so too, but then again....Tim has done some pretty sketchy things over the years. He was usually justified (or we could ignore it as just bad writing) and I'm not saying I agree with the idea of Tim willingly working with Waller, but Tim is spun up awfully tight, and he's been known to snap. It wouldn't be completely out of nowhere if Tim went off the rails. Though honestly, I think if Tim was gonna go 'ends justify the means' then he'd set himself up against Waller, not with her. I think he'd be more like Leviathan was supposed to be, honestly.

But again is that really version any of his fans would want to read about?

[Godlike13]

But I don't think that's a version many of Tim fans would want to read about.

What version is there that people want to read about.

He would (if properly written) blow up to many heads of his team mates ...
And he is also not the guy who would work for Waller or the Government.

Didn’t know Suicide Squad members had a choice, and wanting to kill his teammates would be the hook.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

But again is that really version any of his fans would want to read about?

I guess it depends on how they feel about Tim's current direction.

[Timekeeper]

I, for one, have zero interest in Tim as Savior or putting him on the Suicide Squad. Same reason I wasn't interested in Conner Kent on Suicide Squad and was relieved when they revealed it was Match all along.

[marhawkman]

Batman has mechs. Which is why a mech guy would be be bad as it would bastardize them and mess up Gotham's power scale. Batwing and Batman Beyond already walk the line, i mean if they could all just be in Iron Man suits why wouldn't they then.

Which... has come up in the past already. Kingdom Come Batman actually DID wear power armor as his bat-suit. Batman Beyond's batsuit is actually slim built power armor.

[Ascended]

Batman has mechs. Which is why a mech guy would be be bad as it would bastardize them and mess up Gotham's power scale. Batwing and Batman Beyond already walk the line, i mean if they could all just be in Iron Man suits why wouldn't they then.

Gotham's power scale is already messed up. Bruce has mechs that can fight the League and Darkseid, so why isn't he using them to deal with Gotham's regular problems? Feels like Bane might be less of a threat if Bruce came at him wearing a trillion dollars of high-tech ass kicking tech instead of kevlar and boomerangs. But you're right, a full time mech hero in Gotham would throw things off balance, it'd have to be another out-of-town legacy, like Dick has become, or (first Batwing) David in Africa, or the various international members of Batman Inc. Maybe Hiro Okamura (from Loeb-era Superman/Batman) in Japan?

And I'll be damned if I understand why Bruce keeps wearing kevlar when he's got power armor collecting dust in the garage, but that's what he does. /shrug.

But again is that really version any of his fans would want to read about?

Probably not. I don't have much interest in 'evil/morally gray' Tim myself, and I severely doubt DC has the nuance to pull it off properly anyway. But if the hook was right it might work. I don't think anyone would accept Tim going full villain, but if he found himself in a complicated situation dealing with complex people, and circumstances required him to do some questionable things to achieve a properly heroic goal? Handled right, it might work for him, y'never know. Grayson played with those themes a little and that's one of Dick's most celebrated runs. I'm not in a rush to try it with Tim though.

And frankly, I don't know how much we Tim fans really factor into it anymore. We haven't been keeping him aloft on our own lately, DC needs to either pull in lapsed fans from the 90's who fell off the bandwagon, or find a new crowd to help us support Tim. Feels like DC was looking for some LBGT support when they made Tim bi, but they needed an actual good story to go with it, which they didn't have.

[Guild]

Tim's place? Isn't the LGBT+ aisle?

[marhawkman]

Tim's place? Isn't the LGBT+ aisle?

I thought it was the discounted bin for discontinued merch?

[josai21]

I miss Tim's Red Robin run.

It was really good writing and nailed Tim's character growth.

I'd be totally fine with a story arc of Tim basically going through what we've been talking about here. Feeling out of place. Feeling like he doesn't belong. Write it as a deep and nuanced coming of age story. etc.