#no! only duke went into vigilantism fully emotionally comprehending the risks

[inamindfarfaraway]

I need to clarify that Duke Thomas did not start the We Are Robin movement. It was already up and running, albeit in its early days, when he joined. He was the last addition to his cell. This is their first appearance.

From left to right, not counting the guys who’ve been and are being knocked out: Duke, Izzy Ortiz, Troy Walker, Daxton Chill, Riko Sheridan and Andre Cipriani. They’re in the sewers. Duke is down here looking for his missing, Joker-gassed parents among the homeless. The others are here to foil a terrorist cult of homeless people, and also because their shadowy true leader has his eye on Duke and specifically sent them to give him the chance to sign up. Duke jumps into their dangerous mission like the hero he is. That same day, Troy dies. He stays behind to defuse a bomb and can’t, while his close friends and teammates, and Duke who just got here, escape on a train. In the wake of this trauma, Duke decides that he doesn’t care that that could happen to him. He wants to be a hero.

He goes on to be one of the network’s most influential and accomplished members, being a natural leader and impressing the official Robins the most (along with his friends, they’re the best team). The movement really takes off after he joins. Mostly due to exponential increase in numbers, but partly due to him. So I understand why fans think he started it, on top of him being the obvious choice as the one who becomes a proper Bat. But he didn’t.

We never learn the original amateur Robin’s name. It could have been anyone. An unknown, unremarkable background character lit a spark that set Gotham ablaze. I think that’s pretty beautiful. It definitely fits for the comic’s themes of community, being part of something greater than yourself and how ordinary people collectively can have a powerful impact that transcends their individual weakness. What’s important is that We Are Robin exists and endures. That we are all Robins together. It’s the “Anyone can be Spider-Man” idea from the Spider-Verse movies with no superpowers attached.

So who is the mysterious mastermind, the reason Duke enlisted in the first place?

Alfred Pennyworth. He either founded or cofounded We Are Robin himself or stepped in to organize and equip the very first wave of kids. He acts anonymously in disguises or online, using the handle the Nest. He gives his recruits special phones that connect them to him and each other, their armoured uniforms, information and weapons if they need them. Some, like Dax with his wrench and later handmade grappling hook guns, prefer their own tools. But he does tell Dax the key to making the grapple guns compact.

Stop joking about Duke founding a teen vigilante street gang. Alfred founding a teen vigilante street gang is much funnier. He should never hear the end of it. It’s implied that he did it all independently and kept it secret from the rest of the Batfamily, so they might not even know about it until Duke, who figured it out during his first meeting with Alfred out of disguise, informs them. And Duke’s real origin story needs no exaggeration. It shows him to be a proactive, altruistic menace with no regard for rules or his own safety just fine.