Originally Posted by
bat39
I read the Reddit thread and agree with most of it actually. Its certainly not my intention to devalue Tim Drake as a character or his importance in the history of the Batman franchise and the mythos.
But here's the thing. Adaptations tend to be based on current pop-cultural perceptions of characters - how popular/well-known they are among general audiences today or how popular/well-known/marketable would they be to general/new audiences if featured in fresh stories/adaptations today.
Consider the JL cartoon. At the time it was produced, Wally West was THE Flash, and Barry Allen's role was of Wally's dead mentor whom he revered but whose shadow he ultimately grew out from. So when it came to adapting Flash to a cartoon, they just went with the simple approach of featuring Wally West and not including Barry. They did the same for GL when they had to introduce him in STAS - they went with Kyle Rayner, the then-current GL from the comics, rather than Hal Jordan (though they pretty much gave Kyle Hal's simpler origin story). It doesn't mean that Barry and Hal were rendered worthless - it just meant that they didn't have much of a role to play in the current DCU, and so the adaptations didn't prioritize them. That changed a decade later, with adaptations like Young Justice and the various DC Animated Films featuring Barry and Hal.
Hell, when Tim was introduced in BTAS (or rather, TNBA), they ignored Jason and had Tim be the new Robin after Dick (with elements of Jason's backstory folded in). This was because Tim was then the current Robin, and Jason was dead and had no current relevance to the Batman franchise.
So when James Gunn is now seemingly ignoring Tim in favor of Damian, he's simply following that time-tested trend. Damian is the current Robin, and had been so for the better part of 20 years now. It makes sense that Gunn would prioritize him. Tim may still be around in the comics, but he doesn't have a particularly unique or distinctive role to play, and doesn't have the 'hook' Damian has (as Batman's biological son) to grab the attention of general audiences.
Trust me, I'd love it if there's an adaptation that can make use of Tim. Had the CW's Batwoman show continued, I'd hoped he would show up there (especially since Stephanie Brown already appeared). And of course, he'll continue to be featured in new DCAU related projects since he's the DCAU Robin (just like Wally's the DCAU Flash).