#gotham goons call him the violent lantern

[pocketramblr]

Inspired by this post: give Bruce a star sapphire ring

I've never met anyone who cared as deeply for his fellow man as Bruce Wayne

[soulmate-game]

Oneshot #2

What if Marinette had never won the Wayne Enterprises competition?

Well, her and Damian’s meeting would have probably went something like this.

—*—*—*—*—*

The asian-French hero looked down at her palm, where a plain silver ring sat at the center of the long silver chain around her neck. They had done it. Seven years, lots of reversed deaths, way too many close calls, and Adrien was in a wheelchair for the next few months at least. If he ever got back on his legs at all.

That wasn’t even brushing over the painful fact that he was now an orphan by all rights, his mother finally buried and his father rotting in prison. It was the epitome of a bittersweet victory, and Marinette couldn’t stand to stay in the same city as where it had happened anymore.

It wasn’t like she had a choice, anyway. Marinette was the Guardian now, and the fallout of the last fight led to her parents figuring out her identity. That couldn’t be allowed to stick, so she had asked Plagg to erase their memory of the discovery. She knew Plagg didn’t have the best restraint with his powers, but the effects would never wear off and could never be reversed.

Sure enough, they didn’t just forget that Marinette Dupain-Cheng was Ladybug. They forgot that Marinette Dupain-Cheng had ever been born.

So the Guardian, for she had held that title since her eighteenth birthday, gathered up all her belongings. She emptied her bedroom as if it had never held a child to begin with, sold everything she didn’t need and packed away what she did. She took the Miracle Box with her, of course. And Chat’s ring. He could wear it anymore anyway, and Marinette didn’t have anyone she could trust it to.

Kagami and Luka gave back their Miraculous, too. As did Chloè. They didn’t need to fight HawkMoth anymore, and they deserved normal lives now that the war was over. Marinette was not about to take from them the very thing she couldn’t have.

So she found herself in Gotham City, her hair cut into a long pixie in an attempt to change up her look. She didn’t need people recognizing her, especially since she had no intention of giving up her hero work. She set up a boutique, she already had more than enough of a clientele and solid reputation to keep her in business for at least a few years. She was twenty years old, and the world saw her as a rising star instead of the crashed meteor she felt like.

The Kwamis saw it. Every time they left the Box (and Marinette liked giving them all at least a day or two every week to stretch their legs, so to say), they would see her darkening bags under her eyes and the almost permanent slump to her shoulders. Her bed almost looked brand new even after several months in Gotham.

She closed her hand around the ring for a moment, before slipping it onto her right thumb. The now-familiar coursing energy of Destruction ran over her body like a current of electricity, promising a fatal shock at even the slightest mistake.

Good thing she was a manic perfectionist.

“Plagg, merge.”

The cat Kwami was sucked into the ring, dying it black and giving birth to the green paw on the flat top. Marinette’s already darkened and Gotham-ized Ladybug costume gaining a few spikes, a black leather jacket, her utility belt holding her yo-yo darkened into charcoal gray with green accents and a red-and-Black extendable bo staff. Instead of a domino mask, stylized black ski goggles covered her eyes, the magical glass tinting maroon in the right lighting. The tips of Marinette’s short hair dyed into a dark mossy green.

“Let’s show these Gotham villains that they can’t just toss us around,” she said to the empty air, as if promising to herself that her half-year absence from the hero scene hadn’t filled her skills at all.

(And it probably hadn’t, since she had kept up with her own training regiment during the hours she really should have been using to sleep, but she wouldn’t be Marinette if she didn’t doubt her own skills every now and then.)

With a soft whisper of “cataclysm,” she laid her hand on the metal door that had been slammed shut. It rusted and crumbled away into dust immediately. She wouldn’t let Scarecrow hold her charity gala hostage. Sure, it hadn’t been as extravagant as something thrown by the Waynes, but it was her first gala and had had a surprisingly large turnout. People had fallen in love with their new Gotham celebrity philanthropist.

Surprisingly, she wasn’t alone. Right then, the windows in the rented building shattered, allowing three very familiar masked men to drop in at the three other corners of the room. With Marinette, they made a full square of heroes surrounding the Gotham villain and his screaming hostages.

“Separate,” she whispered, her Plagg-induced accessories fading away to reveal her in just her Ladybug outfit. Her domino mask was replaced by a maroon and black-polka dotted motorcycle helmet with a rose-red visor covering the upper half of her face. She had on matching fitted cargo pants in the same pattern, and a long-sleeved black turtleneck with two large, hot rod red half-circles over both sides of her waist. Calf-High black combat boots with red soles and maroon stripes up the outer edges completed the new Ladybug look. Not including the ever-familiar yo-yo sitting on a thin red utility belt on her hips, anyway.

The three Gotham-native vigilantes observed everything, including the unfamiliar figure in red and black that seemed to be on their side, at least for now.

“Robin,” Batman spoke up. “Red Robin and I will engage Scarecrow. Get the hostages out and administer the antidote for the fear toxin. If we haven’t wrapped things up by the time you're done, come back here.”

The colorful vigilante let out a tsk at being left out of the combat, but knew he would be the fastest at evacuating the victims. They were all under fear toxin and several were having very violent reactions to it, so his no-nonsense approach would be the best match up with wrangling the civilians out of the building.

“I’ll help you,” an unfamiliar female voice crackled over their coms, making the three vigilantes stiffen. “Relax, my suit’s magic patched me in to your frequency. You can call me Ladybird. I won’t get in your way, but I’m not gonna just sit back and watch either.”

“If you slow me down, I’m hogtying you and leaving you for the Commissioner,” Robin warned, her gaze flashing over to the unfamiliar hero right as her ruby-red lips curled up into a secretive smirk.

“Fair enough.”

Batman and Rex Robin rushed into the fight then, seeing as Nightwing couldn’t distract Scarecrow forever. The blue vigilante used their sudden take over of the fight to turn his attention to Scarecrow’s rented goons, and knock guns out of hands.

Ladybird and Robin took over the rest. Working like a surprisingly well-oiled machine, they seemed to know exactly which victim to grab next to avoid getting in the other’s way. Robin noted that Ladybird seemed surprisingly well-versed in handling panicking victims that fought back, easily trapping their limbs to their bodies and carrying them out forcibly yet efficiently. She was also surprisingly quiet, whispering to the more coherent victims and doing her best to keep the evacuation as subtle as possible.

She was equally quick in administering the antidotes that Robin handed out to her, her hands clothed in black motorcycle gloves easily sliding the needles of the syringes into the right arteries without a second of hesitation.

Luckily, they hadn’t had to go back into the fight after getting all the victims rounded up and cured. Ladybird has just finished handing out shock blankets when Robin’s team filed out of the building with an unconscious Scarecrow held limply between them. A few statements and evacuated victims later, and the three met up with Ladybird in a nearby alley.

“Who are you, and why are you in Gotham?”

“Ladybird,” she said calmly, ignoring the beeping in her helmet. She had used her cure discreetly to reverse any physical damage the vigilantes and victims had taken, and hoped they wouldn’t notice until the next day. It had taken her a while to learn how to make the magical ladybugs invisible, but it was a useful skill. “I used to be Ladybug, back in Paris, but Paris doesn’t need heroes anymore. I came here for a new start, that’s it. I don’t plan to get in your way, but don’t expect me to stay out of it when bad things happen.”

“Oh, so we’re just supposed to accept a new vigilante with magic popping up and sticking their noses in our business, are we?” Robin challenged, stepping forward with hostility in every muscle of his body. Ladybird, to her credit, did not even flinch. In fact, even though she was over a foot shorter than Robin, she just straightened up to make the most of every inch of height she had. It was shockingly effective. She petit female could apparently make a very intimidating presence when she wanted to.

“I don’t plan on leaving, so you either play nice or get the nice beat into you,” she said with a falsely cheerful voice. A growl pulled itself from the back of Robin’s throat.

The rest of the BatFam watched with barely restrained tension. None of them were happy about a new, unknown vigilante in town, sure. But Robin was by far the last person they would have chosen to confront the new person.

“I’d like to see you try, shorty,” Robin purred menacingly, a sharp grin overtaking Ladybird’s mouth at the challenge.

“Gladly, little birdy,” She chimed right back. They lunged at the same moment, Ladybird’s hand gripping Robin’s bicep to try and throw him over her shoulder at the same moment that the man’s fist made contact with one of the large spots on her waist.

But before any real damage could be done, a flash of green light erupted around them, surrounding both heroes and separating them with business-like speed. They blinked at each other as they were forced to separate, wondering if Green Lantern had made a surprise visit to Gotham.

But that was not it, they realized, the green was much too dark a shade and proceeded to sink into the skin around their wrists. A mechanical voice sounded in the air.

“WARNING: GAME FOUL. ATTACKS BETWEEN SOULMATES OUTSIDE OF FRIENDLY SPAR ARE PROHIBITED.”

“What the hell—“

“INITIATING GAME START.”

Both heroes’ vision split in half, just as Marinette’s one-hour timer ran out and her transformation dissolved.

“Well. I’m Marinette, I guess. Your soulmate.”

She watched from two different perspectives as Robin’s eyes widened behind his mask and her own star-struck face contrasted starkly with her unaffected tone of voice. Apparently exhaustion saps the emotion from someone’s tone.

“Holy plot point, Batman.”

“I thought we agreed you would never say something like that again, Nightwing.”

—*—*—*—*—*

[taiblogcomics]

Earth, But Worse

Hey there, a plane for bats. Got more Red Hood this week, and surprisingly it's something we've been waiting for a while. Which is surprising that we want anything from Red Hood, but here we are~

And here's the cover:

This cover actually reminds me a lot of the cover to Red Hood and the Outlaws #1. Except a bit more boring, since they're not doing anything on this one. Bizarro--or Beardzarro, as I prefer to call him now--can't even be bothered to pose. Yeah, this cover is terrible, but surprisingly it still manages to sell itself with its text. Because, to be perfectly honest, the actual fate of Bizarro and Artemis is something I was honestly invested in. I don't like Jason, but I do want to know what happened to his friends~

Well, if you remember two issues ago, there was a minor plot thing where Jason discovered a hole that he figured could only be made by his missing friend Artemis. He hasn't seen them in a long while and believes them to be dead. We know better, but the specifics of their disappearance hasn't been revealed. Anyway, at the end of last issue, Jason intended to go back to Gotham with his new compatriots, but he had something to take care of first. And here it is! Jasen enters a park and talks to a creepy kid on the swingset. Yeah, you know it's concerning when the kid is creepier than the strange adult coming over to talk to the kid. This kid's name is Caden, and he has the powers to sync up with and copy the powers of the dead. Jason asks him to borrow Artemis and Bizarro's powers, and when he can't, it confirms for him that they're still alive.

And indeed they are! We rejoin them back on the last time we saw them. Which means we can also segue over here with this classic phrase: "Meanwhile, at the Hall of Justice...!" Except not quite. Being an alternate Earth, this building is named the Hall of Punishment, and has a bunch of spiky red rocks jutting from it. Naturally, they decide to explore it. And as they enter, we find them being watched. The first is a creepy-looking dude in a classic milkman uniform, whose art seems to be really awkward about him being able to hold things. Like an old video game model that can't close its hands. He is the Dairy King. The other is a teen girl named "Air Quote". Her "quirk" is that she uses a lot of "unnecessary quotation marks". She can also use her "hand" as a "phone" to "contact people" "long distance". I hope that's not "confusing" or anything~

Inside the Hall of Punishment, Bizarro and Artemis discover a big set of statues of the whole Justice League, all of which have been desecrated or partially destroyed in some way. Artemis figures it's a message. A museum guard happens by them, and quickly figures out they're legitimate superheroes. And since they don't know about Hero Day, they must not be from around here. He leads them into another room, where they find Superman. Or rather, Superman's corpse, his head crushed beneath the famous Daily Planet globe. The guard explains that just one day something happened, nobody knows what or why. But suddenly, everyone with powers just lost them--and everybody without powers gained some. This is punctuated by the guard suddenly turning red and spiky like the spires bursting out of the Hall of Punishment.

Artemis tries to call her axe to her, but instead it just sort of rends her soul. Wherever they are, whatever Earth this is, her axe is not here, and the effort of trying to call it exhausts her, leaving Bizarro to deal with Spiky Guard Man. The guy also confesses that basically everyone on this Earth is a dickbag. Apparently everyone felt opressed by superheroes, so when they lost their powers, they all rose up against them and killed them, flashbacks showing the defeats of Green Lantern John Stewart and Wonder Woman. Which, oh boy, has some problems not unlike the infamously bad "JLA: Act of God". I'll get into that at the end, but in short, Bizarro tells the guy that power doesn't make you a somebody--but it helps. And then he literally throws the guy into the sun. Damn.

Artemis wakes up, and she's pretty okay with Bizarro taking out that guy. The pair retreat, and catch sight of Dairy King, Air Quote, and some other goons looking to kill them. Of this group (including the ones already named), the only one of consequence is Flutterby, a woman with giant flaming butterfly wings. Like, what was even the point of setting up Dairy King earlier? No joke, he's not in the rest of the comic. Anyway, the pair begin to make a plan of what to do next, but are interrupted by a man in a purple waistcoat with a wide grin. He introduces himself as Jack Knife, and he'd like them to join his Resistance.

So we cut to six months later. This is right at the middle of the comic, so you could actually think of this as designed as being two separate issues they compiled into an annual to not interrupt Jason's ongoing story. This is especially evident by Jack Knife's appearance being followed with some "Will Artemis and Bizarro join the resistance!?" caption boxes that make little sense when you can just turn the page and find out that yes, they do. Anyways, six months later, and that Flutterby woman is being attacked by a man wearing an Iron Man suit made of cars. His name is Kennel, which is a pretty weird name for a guy who doesn't have dog powers.

Bizarro appears and destroys Kennel's suit with one punch. Flutterby begs Bizarro to finish the job, but Bizarro promised Artemis no killing. He takes a jewel from her, and walks away, deliberately pretending like he's not noticing her lingering behind to roast Kennel alive. After all, he promised he won't kill anybody. Bizarro is clever enough to figure out loopholes, I'm impressed. We cut over to the Pentagon, where Artemis is trying to get through a cell. Jack Knife is rambling to himself, and two guards show up. Artemis and Jack beat them up, but Artemis has to pull Jack away from getting more vicious.

Flutterby and Bizarro return to their own friends, which appears to be inside the fallen top of the Washington Monument. But enough of that scene! All we needed to see was them reuniting with their friends, I guess, because we then cut back to Artemis and Jack fighting their way deeper into the Pentagon. They've found the guy they're looking for: General Samuel Lane, Lois Lane's father. See, he's tired of imposing his will on this Earth. All the superheroes are dead, and the world is orderly now. So he's going to turn his attention elsewhere--or should I say elseworlds. He's planning to tunnel into Bizarro and Artemis' home Earth and kill all the superheroes there too.

But he can't do this alone. Enter the Lex Luthor of this planet, who has been turned into a giant mangled brain with a face, fused to an ATV. Lex reveals he was the one behind Hero Day, which also accounts for his current... condition. Like, I mean, at least MODOK or Hector Hammond still had arms. I'd also say they at least still had hair, too, but Lex was never particularly blessed in that department. Anyway, that's the past. What's important is the future, given Lex's plans and all. So how is he planning to get to Earth-Prime and kill the mainstream universe? Simple. Remember the Quantum Doorway that Bizarro and Artemis used to get here? Remember how it exploded? Lex has spent all this time putting it back together. Only took him six months, too! Guy must be a whiz at jigsaw puzzles. Or not--again, no arms~

He does, however, have psychic powers--because when you're a giant brain, you gotta have something--and zaps Artemis. While his guard is down during the zapping, though, the Resistance suddenly jumps in and attacks. They have a teleporter on their team, they just need someone to link between the two places. So it was all about getting Artemis in there, and having them follow. They also brought a big ol' sword for Artemis, who plunges it into Lex's brain--which is all of him--and kills him. They then slot that gemstone Flutterby retrieved into a device, hoping it'll undo the whole Hero Day event. The original heroes may be dead, but it beats having everyone else have powers, if they're all such psychos about it.

And... That's the end! Artemis and Bizarro say their farewells, and they go leaping into the Quantum Doorway, hoping that this leap will be the one that takes them home. We won't find out, however, because the ending tagline then promises to see if they return in Red Hood #37. Considering the last one I reviewed was issue 31, maybe I did this one a little early. But it's where it was in my stack, so why shouldn't it be correct~? Seemed like a great place for a break in the arc to me. Well, whatever. Come back in... mid-April, I guess, and we'll see if they made it back~

So, yeah. Let’s start with the Act of God problem first: not all superheroes have superpowers. They specifically show John Stewart getting killed here, and John is just a regular guy. The ring gives him abilities, but he is not himself a superhuman. A magic gene bomb--as it’s revealed to be the eventual cause of the mass depowering/empowering--should not have turned off his ability to use the ring. This also doesn’t account for other superheroes who don’t have powers--DC being pretty famous for this. There’s a desecrated statue of Batman in the Hall of Punishment, but shouldn’t Batman have gained powers from this event?

There’s one other question I would like to address. Jack Knife. His name, his appearance, his creepy grin, insane ramblings, violent demeanor... His entire physique (save for not having the white skin or green hair) and mannerisms call to mind the Joker. But there’s never any reveal of him being, like, a Joker who lost his superpower of being insane. I mean, that’d be bullshit, but at least it’d be an explanation for why he’s so... Jokery. That’s my big gripe here. The comic sets up this whole world for Artemis and Bizarro to struggle in, and then doesn’t want to explain any of the details of this world. This goes as far as Flutterby being one of the people hunting them down on one page, and then six months later, being part of the Resistance at the turn of a page.

We wanted to know what happened to Bizarro and Artemis, but I gotta say... the answer was extremely unsatisfying. And as a minor note, for a thing that only names Jason in the series title anymore (notice the switch to Red Hood: Outlaw), this issue sure barely had him factor into it in any significant way~

[headquartersforlievmuses]

► Damian Wayne

Damian Wayne is the son of Batman and Talia al Ghul. This makes him an heir to the world's greatest crime-fighter, and its greatest super-villain Ra's al Ghul. Damian became the fifth Robin, working alongside Dick Grayson as Batman. Damian's existence was initially unknown to Batman. Genetically perfected and grown in an artificial womb, Damian was intended to be a formidable warrior. Raised by Talia and the League of Assassins, Damian became a talented martial artist by the time he was a pre-teen.

Damian was seen years later when Talia had him spy on Bruce with her. Talia revealed Damian's existence to Bruce Wayne at ten years old and left him in his father's custody in an effort to disrupt Batman's work. Precocious, spoiled, selfish and violent, Damian battled Robin (Tim Drake), whom Damian wanted to replace as Batman's sidekick, and sucker punched him off the T. Rex model in the Batcave. Grounded by Batman, Damian escaped, donned a variant Robin costume made of Jason Todd's old tunic and assorted League of Assassin gear, and got into a fight with the villainous Spook, whom he decapitated. Although misguided and malicious, Damian seemed to genuinely want to aid Batman's war on crime as Damian saw himself as Wayne's true son though that remained unconfirmed.

Eventually, Batman confronted Talia, but both Talia and Damian were soon caught in an explosion. They survived the explosion, but a badly injured Damian required transplants of harvested organs, which his mother ordered her physicians to carry out. Damian made a full recovery.

Talia, Head of the Demon, takes Damian to the Australian Outback where he is tutored in the secret history of his grandfather, Ra's al Ghul. Talia is unaware that a former servant of Ra's, named White Ghost, plans to use Damian as a shell for the soul of Ra's to return to Earth. This process would, of course, kill Damian. Talia is able to save her son from his fate at the last minute.

Sometime after surviving Ra's resurrection, Damian had sensed that someone is out to get Batman. In response to this, Talia began to formulate a plan. It was later revealed that Bruce Wayne had performed a DNA test on Damian to determine any blood connection between them. After learning of Batman's disappearance, Talia took Damian to Wayne Manor, where they deactivated a series of traps and saved Commissioner James Gordon in the process. Damian rescued Alfred from a burning batcave and the kid took the Batmobile, driving it to Arkham in order to aid Batman against the Black Glove. On the road, Damian knocks an ambulance off a bridge, much to Alfred's dismay.

After Batman's apparent death, Damian was left in the care of Alfred Pennyworth and trained by Dick Grayson.

While Gotham was drowning in chaos, crime and corruption, Damian was joy riding in the Batmobile with a friend when Oracle called him to send him on a mission to the Gotham Harbor. Oracle took control of the car, but Killer Croc and Poison Ivy attacked the Batmobile and Croc knocked the car off the road into a stream. Damian was terrified and tried to talk his way out of the situation, but Croc was about to eat Damian until he was saved by Nightwing, who used the Bat-Glider to take Damian out of danger. While they were flying, they were shot out of the air and upon landing they were quickly surrounded by Black Mask's goons. Suddenly an impostor Batman appeared and shot the criminals, killing them all. Dick fought the impostor, who was revealed to be Jason Todd. Jason shot Damian in the chest and Dick took Damian back to the Batcave, where Alfred healed Damian's wounds.

Despite working as Grayson's Robin, Damian expresses a strong willingness to take over the Batman identity himself if Dick is not "up to it." Damian has no respect for Grayson, and tells him that he needs to earn it if he wants his respect.

It is revealed that Damian has begun to visit his father's former friend and enemy Thomas Elliot, also known as Hush, in the prison at the top of Wayne Tower that Dick and Tim put him in, and engages him in chess games. Damian claims that these visits are out of his curiosity for why Hush would alter his appearance to that of Bruce Wayne's. But Hush suspects that the visits are rather Damian's form of grieving for Bruce and a way to "spend time with your old man."

It appears that under Dick's teachings, Damian has begun to grow a conscience and has even demonstrated signs of empathy, particularly towards children. This is demonstrated by his behavior during a mission with the new Azrael and more recently during a Christmas case, in which Damian and Dick find the bodies of several dismembered kids, causing Damian to vomit in horror.

Damian also becomes involved with the Wayne Enterprises' board members during one board meeting led by Lucius Fox. He manages to track down financial irregularities within the Wayne Enterprises accounts, intimidating the board of members along the way. The board becomes impressed that the young Wayne has such impressive business capabilities despite his young age, apparently inherited from his father.

After Tim Drake is revealed to have named as Bruce Wayne's heir in accordance of his will made prior of his disappearance, Damian has filed an injunction with the boards to against Drake since he is Wayne's son.

After Bruce's skull was taken from his grave, Damian and Dick decide to bring the rest of his skeleton, along with those of Damian's paternal grandparents, to their base beneath Wayne Tower. Damian is quite shaken by the sight of the bones of his family. On the way to the cave, Dick's body is possessed by Deadman, whom Damian lashes out at in confusion. Deadman then possesses and leaves Damian's body, subsequently passing his knowledge of the attack of the Black Lanterns onto him. The two heroes then prepare for the Black Lantern's assault on Gotham. After raiding the Army Reserve National Guard Armory, Dick, Damian, and the arriving Tim Drake, are able to save Commissioner Gordon, Oracle, and the surviving police officers at Gotham Central from the reanimated versions of the original Dark Knight's deceased rogue gallery members. However, they then find themselves having a horrific encounter with Batman and the Red Robin's parents - the Flying Graysons and Jack and Janet Drake - reanimated as Black Lanterns.. Dick and Tim send Damian with the Gordons to their underground base while they battle the Black Lanterns. Dick eventually orders Damian through their comm-links to send one of his Wingers with Mr. Freeze's gun. Grayson uses the weapon to cryogenically suspend himself and Tim, forcing the Black Lanterns to retreat as they are unable to read any sign of life of them. Deadman later revives the former Boy Wonders.

Talia begun to clone Damian as she has realized that her son has completely sided with Dick Grayson and the Bat-Family. Damian finally stands up for his Robin mantle, telling Talia that being Robin was the best thing that he had ever done, and Talia does not need to save him from something he chooses to be. Talia then shows Damian the cloned version of himself, whom she sees as Damian's younger brother. Talia admits to Damian, that even though she loves him, he is no longer welcome and is now considered an enemy of the House of al Ghul. Damian defiantly replied that he hoped that he would be a worthy one. Damian (as Robin) is then seen teaming up with Batman and Alfred to begin the search for Bruce Wayne.

Dick Grayson eventually sees that Damian requires friendship and compassion in order to curb his harsh methods. So Grayson takes Damian to Titans Tower, where Damian, despite not being a teenager, takes steps to become the leader of the Teen Titans. His first mission ends in disaster after a super powered teen, who was using his powers in revenge for being bullied, is attacked by Damian after Raven is able to calm him down and the teen lashes out and escapes.

Upon his return to Gotham, Grayson notices that Damian's time with the Titans has made him more patient and he is less prone to use his weapons. After apologizing to Damian about his time with the Titans being a bust, Damian states that he knows Grayson sent him there to find friends but "[he has] one in Gotham and that's more than enough" implying that Grayson is the only friend he will need.

Bruce and Damian begin patrolling together as Batman and Robin for the first time. Bruce tries teaching Damian about the sanctity of life, but has trouble relating with his son. Damian begins showing restraint, which Bruce commends, although Alfred still criticizes him for not being supportive enough. Bruce buys Damian a dog named Titus to teach him compassion. They were both targeted by a super-villain named Nobody. They are kidnapped by Nobody, who tries to show Batman that his no-kill methods are ineffective. He encourages Robin's darker side and tries to take him as an apprentice. Robin angrily leaves the Batcave to work with Nobody, who asks him to execute a criminal. Robin reveals that he was lying, and refuses to betray his father. Nobody decides to torture Robin, continuing his personal vendetta against Batman. When Batman discovers their location, he beats Nobody mercilessly. Nobody swears that he will return and kill their friends, so Damian shoots and kills him. Instead of growing angry, Bruce reacts with compassion. When Damian gets out of the hospital, they talk about how difficult it is to adjust from the life of an assassin. Despite their differences, they play with Titus and enjoy spending more time together as father and son.

Bruce and Damian begin working together against his mother Talia, revealed as the head of Leviathan. During a fight in a meat factory, he converts to vegetarianism and adopts a pet named Bat-Cow. He is believed dead when he was shot in the head by an assassin named Goatboy. It was revealed that Talia has created another clone as his replacement, the obedient fully-grown Heretic. Robin is shown to have faked his death, and is confined to the Batcave at Batman's orders. To avoid the bounty on his head, he begins using the name Redbird and switches to a new costume. This allows him to team up with Jason Todd, who is using the Wingman identity. They work together with Batman Incorporated to take down the League of Assassins' top killers. However, Batman tells Damian he has to quit crime-fighting altogether. Bruce reveals that he has seen Damian's future, as told through "Batman in Bethlehem". If Damian does not retire, his actions will lead to a plague that forces the President to nuke Gotham. Batman Incorporated fights Leviathan in the streets, while Damian is forced to stay inside. Alfred Pennyworth gets him a cat to take care of, who he also names Alfred. Damian refuses to stay home while his allies are dying, and Alfred allows him to leave knowing he cannot be stopped.[48] He flies his exo-skeleton into the center of the battle, where Leviathan has taken over Wayne Tower. He neutralizes the child soldiers, and teams up with Dick Grayson to take down the remaining assassins. The Heretic flings Grayson aside, and challenges Damian to a sword-fight. Despite his bravery and refusal to give up, Damian is impaled through the chest and killed.

After various trials and tribulations involving his corpse, mainly revolving around Ra's al Ghul and Apokolips, Batman managed to rescue his son's body and, though using the Omega Sanction infused within a Chaos Crystal shard, brought Damian back to life within the Batcave.

On his 13th birthday Damian is sent a package by his grandfather Ra's al Ghul, which contains a dead Robin. After a meeting with his mother Talia, he discovers that it is a warning from his cousin Mara al Ghul, who has chosen him as her prey as part of an initiation ritual she must undertake in order to properly join the League of Assassins. Mara has been made leader of a group known as the Demon's Fist, which was originally supposed to be lead by Damian but became hers when he chose to leave the league. They too have chosen targets that they must hunt down in order to ascend to the league, Damian descides to collect the other Demon's fist's targets in order to form the new Teen Titans; this includes Starfire, Beast Boy, Raven and Kid Flash.

While searching for a tree for Christmas,  Jonathan Samuel Kent accidentally torched some woodlands near a swamp in Hamilton. He was subsequently rescued by Maya Ducard aka Nobody and Goliath. Jon later awakened in the Batcave and found out that Robin had been keeping him under surveillance for a long time. The two initially did not get along, and the situation was further complicated when Batman and Superman arrived, blaming each other for the conflict.

Powers 

Archery: Damian asserted that his training with the League of Assassins gave him greater mastery of the bow than even Green Arrow.

Artistry: Damian is considered as skilled with a brush as he is with a sword.

Business Management: Trained by his mother and the League of Assassins in the way of controlling a company with an iron grip. Even as a young boy he knows that in business there are wars and even in war there are assassins. Damian is involved with the Wayne Enterprises' board members. He even intimidated the board members by tracking down financial irregularities within the Wayne Enterprises' accounts.

Disguise: Damian has disguised himself as an elderly busdriver and a substitute teacher.

Driving: He learned to drive at the age of five.

Martial Arts: Trained by the League of Assassins, Damian has stated he knows just as many martial arts as Batman and can use them more effectively. This may be a largely overstated comment but one should not ask for verification. Damian may not be physically tough but he knows how to control his weight and has stated that he knows, "one thousand ways to kill a man." Damian's training has made him a formidable hand-to-hand combatant able to defeat or hold his own against multiple opponents, armed opponents or skilled hand-to-hand combatants.

Genius Level Intellect: Damian has inherited a genius IQ from his father.

Mimicry: Damian can imitate anyone's voice and speech patterns perfectly as he imitated Tim Drake's voice in order to gain access to the Batcave.

Peak Human Condition

Pedagogy: He once taught a geology class for a day at Jon Smith's school.

Stealth: Damian was able to sneak into Gotham City and furthermore into the Batcave virtually undetected until he felt necessary. Of all the Robins, Damian may be the one that is the most silent.

Swordsmanship: Damian assaulted both Tim Drake and Bruce Wayne on separate occasions with his sword, apparently the same sword used by Ra's al Ghul. Although Damian no longer uses his sword he may be unmatched with one if armed correctly.

Throwing: Damian is trained by the League of Assassins in shuriken throwing and further trained by Batman in Batarang throwing.

Arrogance: More often than not, Damian believes himself to be better than he is, this has allowed him to underestimate opponents as well as irritate his allies.

Damian has declared himself a vegetarian.

Damian has a strong love for animals. Pets he has owned include Goliath, Bat-Cow, Titus (dog), and Pennyworth (cat).

Verses

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