Coming from a broken home can be tough especially when your parents are a superhero and supervillain. Damian Wayne is torn between two worlds. He is the son of Batman and Talia al Ghul, the daughter of the detective’s archenemy Ra’s al Ghul.
“It’s all about the family and the family going to hell,” writer Grant Morrison told the New York Post. “The two adults in the story are both culpable. The kid’s the good guy.”
Damian sides with his father and becomes his sidekick Robin so Talia replaces him with an evil clone named the Heretic, who kills Robin in Batman Incorporated #8
“He saves the world,” said Morrison. “He does his job as Robin. He dies an absolute hero.”
The truth is that Damian dies not as a hero but as a martyr. The scene is painfully forced. He inexplicably removes his armor moments before being impaled with arrows and then a sword. Worse, he receives no help from two previous Robins, Tim Drake (Red Robin) and Dick Grayson (Nightwing), who are conveniently knocked unconscious during the fight. Red Robin clumsily lands when his rope snaps and the normally aerobatic Nightwing is thrown like a helpless rag doll into a display case.
The legacy of Robin isn’t likely to end with Damian. He’s actually the second Robin to be killed off. The first was Jason Todd at the hands of the Joker, although he later returned from the dead as comic book characters often do. In fact, Jason will be featured in Batman & Robin #20. The solicitation reads “Will The Red Hood pull him back—or push him over the edge?” Could Jason don the costume again? Another possible replacement is Huntress AKA Helena Wayne, who is Bruce Wayne’s daughter from a parallel Earth. She even has her own Robin costume. The solicitation for World’s Finest #10 reads “Huntress is personally affected by a tragedy in The New 52!” But who better to replace Damian then himself? Perhaps the Heretic will see the light.
