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gravebirds0dmnk · 2 days ago

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MY RANT ABOUT

Damian Wayne!!!

(part 1)

Let’s talk about Damian Wayne, the biological son of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul, grandson to Ra’s al Ghul, a kid who was raised by the League of Assassins and then abruptly dropped into Gotham like a pint-sized wrecking ball. Damian didn’t just walk into the Bat-Family -he kicked down the door, insulted everyone in the room, and declared himself the best Robin before anyone could finish their coffee.

And that’s the thing: he’s not wrong. But we’ll get to that.

People love to hate Damian Wayne. He’s “arrogant,” “rude,” “violent,” “disrespectful.”

Yes - that’s the entire point. Damian is a walking nature-vs-nurture experiment gone rogue. Imagine being raised in a world where killing is standard operating procedure, then being told, "Hey, kid, here’s your dad, the most morally rigid vigilante in existence. No more murder. Also, you're twelve. Try fitting in with these older siblings who all had tragic childhoods and came out emotionally repressed instead of homicidal."

What did anyone expect? Of course Damian was going to be a tiny terror. That’s how he was built.

But people don’t seem to want to let him grow past that. That’s where the real problem lies. They see the early "I’m better than you because I was trained by the League" Damian and freeze-frame him there forever. They ignore the development, the pain, the earnest effort to be more than what he was made to be.

Damian Wayne is a twelve-year-old with the weight of two legacies crushing him. On one side: the Bat - justice, discipline, self-sacrifice. On the other: the Demon - power, domination, control. He didn’t ask for this life. He didn’t get to grow up on movie nights and pizza with Alfred. He was built in a lab of expectations and blood. And then he was dropped into a family that didn’t trust him, because they had no reason to. Imagine how isolating that is.

But despite all of it - the trauma, the conditioning, the sheer amount of emotional dysfunction - he tries. Damian genuinely tries to be better. He goes from "I’ll kill criminals because it’s efficient" to "I can be a hero, and not just my father’s shadow."

He bonds with Dick Grayson in one of the best Batman & Robin runs ever,

he grows as a leader in the Teen Titans, and he earns his place - not because he’s Bruce’s son, but because he fights for it.

And yet, the fandom still treats him like the bad seed. The brat. The mistake.

Let’s talk about that word - “brat.” People throw it around because Damian has an ego, but when Tim acts like a smug genius, or Jason has a chip on his shoulder, or Dick gets a little high and mighty, they’re “complicated.” Damian is branded irredeemable. Why? Because he’s loud about his trauma? Because he doesn't bottle it up in classic Bat-fashion?

People hate that Damian says he’s the best but if you’d been trained since birth to be a perfect weapon and you actually could beat 90% of people in the room, wouldn’t you be a little confident too? Let’s be real Damian could drop someone twice his size and not break a sweat, but he also loves animals, paints, and had a freaking pet cow named Bat-Cow. He’s weird, intense, and has more depth than half of Gotham’s rogues gallery combined.

He doesn’t just represent “what if Batman had a biological son.” He’s the embodiment of legacy, destiny, and defiance. He’s the kid who was told what to be, and chose something else.

So yes, Damian Wayne is difficult. Yes, he’s abrasive. But so was every other Robin when they were introduced. The difference is, we gave them the space to grow. Damian deserves that too.

Let the boy grow. Let him mess up and learn and try again. He’s twelve, for crying out loud. He’s not the brat people make him out to be. He’s a survivor. A fighter. A Wayne.

And frankly? He’s the most interesting damn Robin we’ve had in decades, as much as he's hailed as the heir to both the Bat and the Demon, sometimes he feels more like the heir to chaotic writing decisions and wasted potential.

the fucking clones.

What is it with the League of Assassins and clone factories? Damian's backstory already sounds like a rejected Metal Gear Solid plot. First, we get The Heretic - a beefed-up adult clone of Damian who kills him (yes, kills the 10-year-old version of him)

, and then has the nerve to try and be a “better” version of him by being even more of a brainwashed sociopath. let’s not forget the literal clone army of failed Damian duplicates from Super Sons and Robin: Son of Batman.

These storylines could be tragic and poignant if they weren’t treated like edgelord spice tossed in whenever a writer wants to remind us that Damian's life is "dark and twisted" (as if we could forget). The clone arcs are often just shorthand for “Damian has trauma” without doing the actual emotional work.

why do SOME writers write him as a dumbfuck?

Sometimes Damian is portrayed as a tactical genius who speaks 14 languages and can outthink Ra’s al Ghul before breakfast. Other times, he's a literal moron who charges into a trap that Tim Drake would've spotted from a mile away while blindfolded. You can't have it both ways. He’s either a child prodigy or he’s an impulsive brat. And the thing is - he can be both, if written well. But often, writers just swing between extremes: “arrogant genius” one day, “idiot in a cape” the next.

his bitch ass adopted siblings.

Damian’s relationships with his siblings are the most fascinating and most abused part of his character. His bond with Dick Grayson? Absolute gold - when done right. Dick is the only one who treated him like a kid and a brother instead of a problem to be managed. But let’s look at the others:

Tim Drake: The rivalry with Tim is valid. Damian sees Tim as the Robin he needs to replace to be accepted. But writers constantly reduce it to petty hatred when there’s so much deeper story potential. Damian has insecurity around Tim because Tim was Robin by choice, not birth. That eats at him. But instead of nuance, we get “Damian calls Tim names and tries to stab him (again).”

Jason Todd: This relationship should be compelling! They're both violent, emotionally stunted products of trauma with a “screw Batman” streak. But writers barely touch it or just make them snarky and antagonistic, wasting the gold mine of storytelling there.

Cass and Steph? You’d think Damian would admire Cass’s skill or at least respect Steph’s audacity, but nah — they’re often relegated to cameos, if that. Missed opportunity. Always.

Forced love interests.

Damian Wayne is twelve to fourteen years old in most of his appearances. And yet we’ve had writers try to force teenage romance arcs with Emiko Queen, Djinn from Teen Titans, and even hinted stuff with Maps Mizoguchi. And it’s always awkward.

Look, Damian is emotionally stunted. He doesn’t even know how to have friends, let alone romantic relationships. These “love” arcs feel like writers trying to shove him into the typical young-hero mold — except Damian isn’t normal. He doesn’t need a love interest right now. He needs therapy, a stable environment, and a break from being written like a tiny James Bond with a sword.

Who even is he atp?

Damian is one of the most inconsistently written characters in modern DC comics. Is he;

A cold-blooded killer trying to reform?

A snarky, self-loathing child prodigy?

A guilt-ridden heir trying to live up to his father’s shadow?

A Teen Titans leader who makes ethically horrifying decisions?

Or a comedic, adorable little brother in Super Sons?

The answer is: all of them, depending on the writer, the phase of the moon, and whether or not DC remembered that continuity exists. There's no solid foundation anymore. He goes from helping animals and crying over Alfred’s death to creating prisons for criminals before they commit crimes (yes, that was real). Like… pick a lane.

IN CONCLUSION:

Damian Wayne is a character bursting with potential, yet often written as a caricature of himself - either the hyper-violent League assassin or the snarky “baby genius” with no emotional depth. And it's a shame, because when he's written with actual care, he's one of the most interesting, vulnerable, human characters DC has. But too often, he's just a plot device, a lightning rod for conflict, or worse — a symbol of edgy storytelling with none of the payoff.

The clones, the weird romances, the uneven sibling dynamics — all of it could be compelling, if they stopped treating Damian like a ticking time bomb and started treating him like the child he still is, who never got the chance to just be a kid.

And maybe , just maybe , let him grow instead of rebooting him back to the same arrogant starting point every other year.

Listen. I didn’t think DC had the guts to give Damian Wayne a real love interest that made sense, but they actually nailed it with Flatline.

Flatline (aka Nika) is a Russian teenage reaper girl, trained by Lord Death Man, who literally kills Damian in their first interaction at the Lazarus Tournament. That’s right - the first time they meet, she rips his heart out.

A classic Bat-romance if there ever was one.

But here’s the thing: their dynamic works because for once, Damian is in a relationship with someone who is like him. Nika isn’t a civilian. She’s not a princess-in-a-tower type. She’s deadly, clever, morbidly funny, and has her own trauma stew to simmer in. She understands what it means to be trained to kill, what it’s like to live in the shadow of a master manipulator, and - this is important - she doesn’t judge Damian for who he was.

They flirt, they fight, and they have actual chemistry. And even more importantly: Nika sees Damian’s potential. She likes that he’s trying to become better. She doesn’t infantilize him, doesn’t try to “fix” him, and absolutely calls him out when he’s being dramatic (which he always is).

They’re goth murder babies in love. It's adorable. It’s deadly. It’s surprisingly tender.

Also: the fact that Damian openly blushed when she flirted with him?? After years of acting like a cold-blooded monk?? That was character growth, baby. Let him be a teenager. Let him have weird assassin girlfriends who wear skull makeup and call him out on his nonsense.

That relationship gave him depth. Vulnerability. Normality, in the most abnormal way possible.

The cursed ship. Damij*n

Now we pivot — HARD — into the chaotic, emotionally devastating, soul-bonded bros or maybe soulmates?? ship that is DamiJon (Damian Wayne x Jon Kent).

Let’s be real: Super Sons was lightning in a bottle. Damian and Jon had instant chemistry, not just as teammates but as characters that completed each other. The edgy, bitter, emotionally repressed assassin kid and the sunshine-filled, awkward, farm boy alien. It’s Batman and Superman, but in middle school. And it worked.

Jon brought out Damian’s humanity. Kinda.

Damian helped Jon grow a spine.

They bantered like siblings but supported each other like best friends.

Their road trip in Super Sons of Tomorrow? ICONIC.

Their team name was "The Super Sons." Like. Come on.

Now. The DamiJon ship could have stayed platonic - and for many people, it does. That’s valid. But for a huge part of the fandom, something clicked: this was Damian’s most emotionally honest relationship. He let his walls down around Jon in a way he didn’t even do with Dick or Bruce.

And then... DC aged Jon up, yeeted him into space, and basically nuked the best dynamic they had in years.

Instead of letting this amazing slow-burn grow into a genuine teenage relationship -or even just a long-term partnership -they forced them apart. Damian went full “brooding alone in the rain,” and Jon? Jon got stuck with awkward adult Superman stories and none of the vulnerability that made him great. I guess.

So the fandom stepped in.

DamiJon fanfiction took over. Why? Because people recognized the undeniable emotional gravity between these two. The way Jon looked at Damian like he mattered. The way Damian saw Jon as a safe place to be a kid. And yeah -whether you ship it romantically or just as friendship - they were each other’s person. A little.

And DC fumbled it.

Badly.

DAMIAN’S LOVE LIFE: WHERE ARE WE NOW?

Flatline: The only canon love interest that actually feels earned and meaningful. The kind of person Damian can have a messy, weird, supportive relationship with. I will go down with that ship.

DamiJon: The emotional bond that broke the internet. A tragic will-they-won’t-they that got derailed by editorial nonsense, but lives on stronger in fan works than most canon DC couples.

Other Attempts (looking at you, Djinn/Emiko): Forced. Rushed. Hollow. No emotional core. Just there to check a box that “Damian has hormones. ”

Damian Wayne, rebellious and guilt-ridden post-Alfred's death, runs off to an island death tournament to punch through his trauma and maybe actually die. Sounds metal, right?

And yeah, on paper? This arc should have slapped.

A secret tournament of assassins?

Damian coping with grief and purpose?

Internal conflict about his mother, his father's legacy, and his own morality?

Literal Lazarus pits boiling under the surface?

Peak edgy teen drama.

Great setup for character growth.

A sleek excuse to throw in new and old assassins, monsters, and obscure DC weirdos.

But the execution?

Wobbly. Rushed. Confused. Repetitive.

DC fumbled it like it was the final Lazarus Pit and they spilled it in a sewer.

Rules are like a video game

Let’s talk about the structure of this whole thing.

You get three lives.

You can die.

You get revived by Lazarus magic.

If you die more than three times, you're out.

But also maybe not because some people still showed up after that?

Uhhh. Okay.

So basically: it’s Mortal Kombat with extra chances.

Except the stakes feel fake, because death is temporary and everyone knows it. So we lose the tension, and instead we just get shock value kills that go, “Oh no! Damian died-wait, nvm, he’s back.”

And then... they just let actual children participate in this deathmatch?

No one — not even Bruce, the most paranoid helicopter parent alive — thought maybe “assassin death island” needed to be shut down?

Character arc is great but..?

Damian Wayne deserved this arc. After City of Bane and Alfred’s death, he needed a storyline that let him explore guilt, identity, shame, and grief. And for a while, it looked like that’s what we were getting.

He’s trying to prove something. He runs from home. He wants to know who he is when he's not Robin. All good stuff.

But the story rushed it. Damian went from:

“I don’t deserve to live”

“I beat the Lazarus demon in my head and now I’m fine”

in like, five issues. Maybe 7.

That’s not healing. That’s narrative whiplash.

Worse, we finally get inside Damian’s trauma -the guilt over Alfred, the resentment toward Bruce, the confusion about Talia - and then we speed-run emotional recovery through a hallucination of his inner demon. Cool imagery. Half-baked execution.

This should’ve been a 30-issue psychological arc, not a slightly spiced tournament brawl with a feel-good ending and a hug.

Let’s be real: the best part of the Lazarus Tournament was Flatline. Mostly at least.

She was witty, violent, competent, and emotionally grounded.

She killed Damian with a flirty grin. ICONIC.

She called him out. Made him reflect. Gave him a mirror without being a “fixer.”

Flatline had the perfect amount of chaos and pathos to match Damian, and her presence added depth to the story that none of the other contestants really brought.

But of course... she gets sidelined quickly. Because DC can't let Damian have too much growth or happiness at once. Nooo, gotta reset that character arc soon, huh?

Lazarus guy

There’s this weird demon entity connected to the Lazarus pits that represents death, rebirth, rage, and temptation.

On paper? A perfect metaphor for Damian’s psyche.

In execution? It’s like:

“Hey Damian, fight this literal manifestation of your darkness! If you win, you’re healed!”

And he does. In ONE issue.

Even though the “inner demon” literally says things like “Embrace who you are!” and Damian goes, “NO, I AM MORE.”

Cool... but shallow.

Like, where’s the tension? Where’s the long, brutal journey of self-reconstruction? Where’s the weight of that trauma? This arc treated Damian’s grief like it could be solved by punching his subconscious in the face.

Lazarus Tournament..

The setup? 🔥 🔥 🔥

The aesthetic? 🔪 Yes please.

The character potential? Off the charts.

The actual story? …meh. Shiny on the outside, soft and half-cooked on the inside.

Damian deserved a story that let him bleed, break, and slowly rebuild.

Instead, he got anime fights, a quick therapy demon, and a new costume.

It wasn’t bad. It was just half the story it needed to be.

Now..

Let’s talk about:

Who the hell Respawn is (and how wild that reveal is),

Why Damian’s reaction to him is so important,

How DC fumbled something that could’ve been huge,

And why this was the most personal brotherhood Damian never got to explore.

WHO IS RESPAWN?

Short version? Respawn is Damian Wayne’s clone.

Longer version? Respawn is a clone made from both Damian’s and Deathstroke’s DNA - an artificial “son” created as a contingency weapon. Basically a knock-off who had all of Damian’s trauma amplified and none of the love or purpose that Damian eventually found.

He was:

Experimented on,

Raised in total isolation,

Told he was a tool,

Built to suffer.

And the absolute tragedy is:

He’s everything Damian could’ve become if Bruce, Alfred, Dick, and the others hadn’t intervened.

Respawn is Damian without a safety net. Without a home. Without even the illusion of choice.

Almost brothers

When Damian meets Respawn, it’s not just, “Oh look, a clone.”

It’s a straight-up identity crisis.

Here’s someone who:

Looks like him,

Fights like him,

Hurts like him -but never got the chance to be more. Because DC hates angsty siblings obviously.

And the moment that hits? Damian doesn’t reject him.

He doesn’t go into superiority mode or cold detachment.

He sees him.

“I have a brother?.”

BOOM. That line hits like a gut punch.

Because for someone as emotionally guarded and slow to trust as Damian?

To call someone brother means everything. That’s a label reserved for Dick, and maybe Jon or Tim on a good day.

He never says that lightly. And he gives it to Respawn - this clone, this weapon, this discarded version of himself -instantly. Because he recognizes the pain. He wants to fix him.

DC KILLS HIM OFF. OF COURSE.

And what does DC do with this deeply emotional, complex brotherhood?

They kill Respawn off immediately.

It is infuriating.

The emotional fallout is barely explored. Damian is angry and guilty, sure, but there’s no real aftermath. No time to grieve. No deep reflection. Just:

“Oh hey, your clone-brother is dead, anyway let’s move the plot forward.”

This is one of the biggest missed opportunities in Damian’s entire arc.

They could’ve explored:

Cloning ethics,

Legacy and personhood,

Damian’s desire to be more than just a weapon, reflected in someone who never got the chance.

Instead? Respawn is reduced to a plot tool to escalate the Shadow War storyline.

And you know what? That’s a crime.

I'm tired. I'll stop writing this now 💕