Originally Posted by
Tzigone
6 to 9 years. I like Dick starting at 10-13 years of age, and continuing until 19. He needs to be adult when he leaves Batman. Well, if you want to keep the element (big in post-Crisis, but definitely present in pre-Crisis) that Dick is frustrated because Bruce keeps treating him like a child, when he's grown. Moreover, when he's had almost as much experience as Bruce has (I like him starting 1 to 3 years after Bruce). Bruce is very authoritarian, doesn't share info, and doesn't treat Robin like a full partner. It's understandable, since Dick was a kid when he started, but he isn't a kid anymore and Bruce will never, ever see them as equal partners. Moving this down to when Dick is 16ish makes him a child objecting to being treated as child instead of adult objecting to being treated as child, and I don't like it.
My age list I made a while ago (age everyone up three years now, I guess, since Damian got older). I mostly live in preBoot land.
Alfred Pennyworth - Anywhere from 50 to 70. A huge range, but I like both the latter post-Crisis/Batman Begins version where he raised Bruce and the Golden Age where he met Bruce when Bruce was an adult, and Dick already lived with him. I both like it for Bruce not having that loving presence in his childhood and that parlaying nicely into his post-Crisis inability to get past his parents’ deaths and emotional isolation and for the idea that when Bruce took Dick in, he expected he would be the doing the raising and the work and rather than foisting it off on someone else.
Bruce Wayne - 39-41. I tend to think of Batman as 26-28 when he took in a 10-to-12-year-old Dick Grayson (within two years of becoming Batman). But I’m okay with Dick being as young as 8 becoming Robin and with Bruce still being 26-28 at that time, so he could be up to 45. For a "current" Bruce, I definitely like him old enough to no longer be a young man.
Dick Grayson - 25/26. Because he was 7 years older than Jason in early post-Crisis appearances and that works well for me, and I like him growing up and I think it works well with him playing surrogate father to Damian for a bit. His age gap with Jason is one of the more important ones if operating in post-Crisis continuity. He needs to be at least 18 so he can leave home before Jason ever comes to Wayne manor.
Cassandra Cain - 19. I haven’t read much with her, but thought she was 2 years older than Tim.
Jason Todd - 18/19. Because before he was retconned to 15 when he died, it seemed quite likely he was 6 to 18 months older than Tim. But that's kinda iffy since he was in 7th grade in the annual (A student, so didn't' fail) shortly before he died, but Dick may have aged 3 years since leaving Robin (dialog with Roy when Roy got Lian) and Jason wasn't 9 when Bruce met him.
Tim Drake - 17. He was my base character to set relative ages by.
Damian Wayne - 10. Because he seemed that around that age when he was introduced.
Selina Kyle - 37-39. Because that seemed a good age for her, relative to Batman, when she was introduced in the Golden Age. She wasn’t a kid, and I have him 26 so made her a peer. Knocked her down a couple years from him because I’ve seen her younger than him in other versions. Up to 45ish is okay if Bruce is, too. I just need her be close to Bruce in age and definitely already and adult when Robin arrives on the scene (prefer Robin barely pre-dating her, as with Golden Age).
Barbara Gordon - 29-32. 1975 had Barbara 7 years older than Dick. New 52 and a couple cartons made them the same age. I prefer her a few years older than Dick, them not dating in high school, but having a flirtation when he was in college (as they did in Batman Family comics in ‘70s), then dating when Dick is 23ish. I didn’t really want them in high school at the same time. I prefer the Silver Age version where she is on more equal footing with Batman and Robin - they don’t know her secret identity and she doesn’t know theirs. She was not trained by Batman. She was not subordinate to Batman, but was her own hero. I like her being out of high school before she takes on the cowl so she and Batman interact as fellow adults, peers.
Stephanie Brown - 17. Because she was the same as Tim throughout the bulk of the 6 years worth of Robin issues I read with her.
Helena Kyle - 1. Because I wish Selina’d never given her up for adoption, and she was talking by then, so 1.