I saw someone posting this theory today:
Don't know if anyone said this before, but my bet is that Respawn is the son of Talia and Slade Wilson aka Deathstroke.
How? Because of how Damian's birth was retconned at New 52 and kept in Rebirth (see Batman and Robin Vol 2 (2011)Issue #0) . And also other clues in Deathstroke vol 4, Issues #30-#35
We are told that Damian's gestation happened on an incubator womb for a 9-month-period, and then grew up
and trained with his mother among other teachers to be the deadliest assassin and true heir to the Head of the Demon.
Also, in the Deathstroke vs Batman storyline there's this idea that Damian might be Slade and Talia's spawn, since in the past and this comics these two have had a relationship (that includes sleeping together). In their last encounter she reveals that this was her plan to tease Slade about the idea of them being togheter, Slade dismisses it because the boy isn't his... And then Talia says "Can you reverse such procedures, yes? Consider, man of rage...the possibilities...
My theory is that Talia has gestated several babies in those incubator wombs, whose fathers are some of the apex humans in the world, such as Batman and Deathstroke among others.
TL,DR: Batman's son is Talia's spawn.
Deathstroke's son is Talia's REspawn.
For now I will think that it can be the case. Williamson even posted one Damian vs Slade giff today in his twitter. But it could be only because Robin and Deathstroke plots will collide in 2022.
Well, if that's true, at least DC will get their villainous Al Ghoul heir, whom they wanted to see in Damian.
I was thinking about it, and it's actually might be not a worst idea, at least Damian will have his own nemesis, who can play perfect as the character, which Damian could have been in the worst case scenario.
But does anyone find it funny how most people forget that Talia is almost the same age as Dick? I think writers don't think about the age difference when they pick men for her to date
Don't think so. Didn't slade confirm that he had a vasectomy decades ago. So the only way for it to plausible to make Respawn a Deathstroke clone or something. And tbh all that cloning plots are getting old and boring now. I'd rather him be someone not related to Damian but related to Slade a grandson or whatever whom Slade rejected and he became jealous that Slade is interested in Damian instead
In fact Talia has always been the same age as Dick, since her first appearance, when Dick was already a college student and she acted like a young maiden. In the story Batman: Birth of the Demon in 1993 it was said that Ra met Talia's mother in Woodstock in 1969, which would make her a maximum of 24 years old and Dick would be over 20 at the time. I don't know nowadays, but for the entire 20th century Talia was written as young and being the same age as Dick
she has always been the same age as Grayson. Dick was on his first year in college (18-19) when he got abducted by the League of Shadows to lure Bats out. Talia was only 18 when Bruce kissed her. This revelation shocked Bruce when he found out since she acted mature for actual age. Dennis O'neil confirmed this in an interview.
Last edited by Lucas 35; 09-30-2021 at 07:18 AM.
Talia was a 19 year old med student when she was first created and met Bruce. Dick was 18 at the time and in his first year in Hudson. (oh was she 18? I only heard Dennis said she was 19)
I don't know if they changed it during Post Crisis, I don't think it matter at first, until Damian came along. That automatically placed Talia's meeting with Bruce earlier, around the time Dick was 14 instead of 18 maybe.
Then in New 52 since Talia's an adult when Dick was only 15 during the Zero Year.
The lore that Talia is thrown into the Pit over and over, as far as I know, didn't come until Rebirth. Tom King wrote that Ra's forced Talia to sword fight since she can hold it and if she dies she's thrown into the pit. There's another author who used this method between Ra's and Damian, I forget who, but it became the Al Ghul's family tradition now.
In Rebirth, Talia's also already an adult woman when she visited The Silencer who was a preteen at the time, attending Spyral's St. Hadrian school for girls. The Silencer in present day has a child, and she seems to be around Dick's age or older.
Both lore so implied that Talia being dipped to the pit has prolonged her youth. I remember some reviewer think that Talia is as immortal as Ra's and that she's already far older than we thought.
The current age difference is unknown, since Dick and Babs have been made older again, and no one as far as I know has mentioned Talia's age, but because of Damian's existence, I think she's still older, but by how much I don't know.
Decades?? Rose had 18 years in Priest run.. I highly doubt that she suddently has +21 years if she is older now...
and I think that Slade learned it when she was a little kid..
Anyway. I think that as long as is NOT a damian clone it will be fine. Why his clone would be a deathstroke fan?
As someone that prefers the flawed, but not evil Talia, I absolutely hate that theory. I hated the Batman/Deathstroke crossover where the whole "is Damian Slade's son!?" crap happened.
Nothing personal though.
Besides, DC seems almost hell bent on taking characters I like and doing them dirty.