Characters / Robin: Damian Wayne

Batman Main Character Index
Title Character
Batman (Bruce Wayne)
Allies
The Bat-Family (Batgirl | Batwoman | Jason Todd | Robin) | Extended Bat-Family & Other Supporting Cast (Azrael | Huntress)
Villains
Bane | Catwoman (Selina Kyle) | Clayface | Harley Quinn (Harleen Quinzel) | The Joker | Lady Shiva | League of Assassins (Ra's Al Ghul | Talia Al Ghul) | Mr. Freeze | The Penguin | Poison Ivy | The Riddler | The Scarecrow | Two Face | A-F | G-L | M-R | S-Z
Spin-Offs
Batgirl (2000) | Batman Incorporated | Dark Nights: Metal (The Batman Who Laughs) | I Am Batman | Nightwing (Dick Grayson) | The Outsiders | Red Hood and the Outlaws | Robin (1993) (Tim Drake) | Robin (2021) (Damian Wayne)

Robin V / Red Bird (Damian Wayne)

Damian Wayne as Robin V

Created By: Grant Morrison · Andy Kubert

First Appearance: Batman #655

Appearances: Batman | Batman (Grant Morrison) | Batman and Robin (2009) | Gotham City Sirens | Nightwing | Robin (1993) | Batgirl (2009) | Red Robin | Teen Titans | World's Finest (2010) | Batman | Gotham Academy | Grayson (guest appearance) | Red Hood and the Outlaws (guest appearance) | I, Vampire| Hawk and Dove | Batwing | Worlds' Finest | Robin: Son of Batman | Batman and Robin Eternal | Teen Titans (Rebirth) | Super Sons | Batman (Tom King) | Titans (Rebirth) ^(guest) Titans #6 - The Return of Wally West Part Six: Out of Time, Out of Mind | Nightwing (Rebirth) | Robin (2021)

"Do you know what I gave up for this? It's not just nothing to me."

Damian Wayne is the biological son of Bruce Wayne/Batman and Talia al Ghul. He was raised by the League of Assassins; as such, he's a ferocious warrior and quite skilled at martial arts in spite of how young he is. Talia only revealed his existence to Batman in another bid to bring Bruce to her side, but Damian himself grew up hearing stories of his father and was eager to meet him.

Damian is a violent, often bratty child, but he's genuinely proud to be Batman's son and wishes to play his part in his father's war against crime, although his upbringing in the League often puts him at odds with Batman's methods. His relationship with the Robins and particularly Tim Drake is heavily conflicted, and he has more than a few entitlement issues. After his father's death, when Dick Grayson becomes Batman full-time, he enlists Damian as his Robin. Dick's influence softens Damian quite a bit, and Damian gradually grows accustomed to being a superhero, and forms a strong bond with Dick. Once Bruce returns and takes up the mantle of Batman once again, Damian continues to work with Dick for a time.

The New 52 left Damian's history unchanged, aside from his age being in flux. However, Dick goes back to being Nightwing and Damian starts working with his father, where he learns what it means to be Bruce Wayne's son, in addition to Batman's partner. Damian also briefly assumed the mantle of Red Bird to work as a sidekick to the second Wingman (who unbeknownst to him was Jason Todd). Damian is eventually killed by his clone, the Heretic, as a gesture of war towards his father — luckily, after a time, Bruce was able to revive Damian in the fires of Apokolips. After Bruce dies again, Damian leaves Gotham on a globetrotting adventure with his pet bat, Goliath, and the daughter of Nobody (a villain he killed), Maya Ducard. Damian would also become the first superhero friend of Superman's son, Jon Kent. Despite a very tense first meeting and numerous brawls, Damian insists on being a team with Jon. The two are dubbed the "Super Sons" by Alfred, and over time would form a genuine friendship. After Tim Drake's "death", Damian founds a new group of Teen Titans, but after a series of events where his morality and belief in Batman's values are called into question, he severs ties with the Batfamily and Teen Titans. Damian initially decides to return to his mother's side, but goes against her wishes to investigate the resurgent League of Lazarus and their tournament.

Tropes associated with Damian:

• Affirmative-Action Legacy: Unlike the other Robins, Damian is only White/Caucasian on his father, Bruce's, side, while his mother, Talia, is mixed Chinese/Arab.
• Aloof Archer: Damian uses a bow and arrow in his alternate identity of Redbird. He is also arrogant and anti-social.
• Alternate Self: Batman and Talia having a child originated in a non-Canon graphic novel, Son of the Demon, where the baby was unnamed. Some stories set in Alternate Universes to the main DCU used an adult version of this character long before he was incorporated into the main canon as Damian. So in short, there's:
  • The unnamed baby boy from Son of the Demon, which was published before DC started its Elseworlds imprint for Alternate Universe stories.
  • Ibn al Xu'ffasch (Arabic for "Son of the Bat") from the Elseworlds story Kingdom Come and its sequel The Kingdom.
  • Tallant Wayne from the extremely Toyetic-looking Brotherhood of the Bat and League of Batmen stories, also under Elseworlds.
  • Following Damian's official introduction, The Multiversity introduced the Damian of Earth 16, who's grown up to become Batman.
  • He finally meets one of his alternates in Dark Nights: Metal, the Damian of Earth -22, who'd been pushed into Jokerizing himself by the Batman Who Laughs.
  • His Bizarro counterpart Robzarro turns up in "Bizarroverse", the final Superman (Rebirth) arc before Brian Michael Bendis's run. He's a mini-Cary Grant wannabe, complete with mustache.
• Always Someone Better: Though he'll never admit it, Damian feels insufficient compared to Dick Grayson and Tim Drake, which provides a lot of fuel for the antagonism between him and the previous Robins.
• Anime Hair: If his hair isn't cut short, it's probably sticking up and spiky, as shown in comics like Super Sons.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: Ask Tim what he thinks of Damian. Just try it. It's also presented this way in Stephanie Brown's Batgirl series (though they get along better than Damian and Tim). He also developed this with Jason Todd once Jason stopped being a full-blown villain.
• Anti-Hero: Damian Wayne starts off as more of a Sociopathic Hero willing to kill and brutalize his enemies. He eventually becomes more of an Unscrupulous Hero, and even a Pragmatic Hero on his best days, under Dick and Bruce's guidance, learning restraint and humility.
• The Atoner: During the "Year of Blood", Talia arranged for Damian to steal a number of mystical artifacts from around the world (often at the cost of their protectors' lives along with Talia's subordinates), causing Damian to try and return them after his Heel–Face Turn under his father and Dick.
• The Baby of the Bunch: As the current Robin and the youngest member of the Batfamily, he tends to get treated like this, with his adoptive brothers constantly making jabs at his age when teasing him. His advanced intellect and brutal upbringing do away with most of the associations with the trope though.
• Back from the Dead: Jason seems to have set a trend. After his first death at the hands of The Heretic and his own mother, he was revived by the Chaos Shard from Apokolips after the Batfamily raided Darkseid's domain to retrieve Damian's body. During his own series, Robin: Son of Batman, he dies again to prevent a relic from destroying the world, but this time his soul was guided back into his body before he could cross over.
• Badass Adorable: Averted at first due to his murderous tendencies. Played straighter later on when you take into account his fondness for animals. Taken further when he starts making goofy faces like this in later comics. Even in the mini-series Heroes in Crisis, in their personal confessions, Tim Drake refers to Damian as "the cute, mean [Robin]", while Dick Grayson calls him "the cute, dangerous [Robin]".
• Badass and Child Duo: With his father Bruce as Batman and himself as Robin. Together, he and his father fight crime together amongst all of the chaos. He's also this with many of the other heroes he works with, most frequently Nightwing, his favorite partner, and Starfire, who is a fellow member of the Teen Titans.
• Badass Biker: When he's not swinging through the rooftops or riding in his father's fleet of Batmobiles and jets (both of which Damian is fully capable of piloting himself), Damian can usually be seen getting around with one of his personal "Robin-Cycles", which he built and customized himself.
• Badass Boast: Damian has this to say while he was all tied up and at the Joker's mercy. Note, The Joker.
  Damian: I have nothing to say that would help you manipulate me, clown.
• Badass Cape: Wears a cape like all of the other Robins, doubling as a glider and parachute for descending on unsuspecting crooks below.
• Badass Longcoat: In the future, Damian is shown to become Batman in Batman 666 and 700, but he is not wearing the traditional cape. Instead, he is wearing a long coat.
• Badass Normal: Damian is kickass without any supernatural powers or abilities. Except that one time after his resurrection. (And his normal abilities stretch the definition of "non-superpowered" – he can voluntarily shift his internal organs.)
• Becoming the Mask: Originally sent to the Wayne household by Talia simply to sow discord before retrieving him, Damian finds life as Robin and Bruce Wayne's son more fulfilling than his time as the prince of the League of Assassins, leading him to turn his back on his mother and the life he knew.
• Berserk Button:
  • Don't touch his pets. It doesn't matter if the person is an average thug or a leader of a country. Doing anything that he perceives as abusing his, oh I'm sorry, property, will result in a swift beatdown followed by the wrecking of whatever valuable estates the unlucky sap has.
  • As of Rebirth, his height also seems to be a point of contention for him, as he and Jon Kent immediately went to town on each other soon after the latter made that statement.
• Better with Non-Human Company: Damian has a cow (affectionately called the Bat-Cow), a Great Dane (Titus), a kitten (Alfred), and a Dragon Bat (Goliath) for pets. He is also a vegetarian and refuses to eat meat of any kind. When it comes to people, he's a little less forgiving and a lot more violent. Apparently for Damian, killing or torturing people is okay, but killing or eating animals is a big no-no. He grows out of the latter part, but he still tends to prefer animals to humans, as shown when he kidnapped and interrogated Jon Kent due to the latter accidentally killing his cat Goldie while trying to take down the red-tailed hawk that was kidnapping her.
• Big Brother Mentor: His treatment of Superboy has shades of this, as he's constantly sneaking advice in between snark and insults and is constantly trying to "train" Jon to be a better superhero even at the most mundane levels of crimefighting. When the two are trapped on another planet in another dimension, he is also quick to reassure the younger superhero that they were definitely going to find their way home while hoping that Jon will never have to see a place like Apokolips.
• Big Ego, Hidden Depths: It's strongly implied that the reason Damian makes such a big deal of being Batman's "blood son" and insists that he is Batman's rightful heir is out of insecurity: as the other Robins are adopted, that means that Bruce chose them to be his family.
• Birds of a Feather: During his brief stint on the pre-flashpoint Teen Titans, he and Ravager (Rose Wilson) get on well due to their similar backstories. The fact that no one else on the team seems to want either of them there doesn't hurt either.
• Black Sheep: Damian is the one that doesn't seem to fit in with his family. He seems to be the one that is commonly treated as different by everyone else. This is most likely due to Damian's background and upbringing, as well as the fact that Damian is Bruce's biological son in comparison to Bruce's other sons being adopted. However, this is mostly his own fault due to his stand-offish nature and constant elevating himself over the rest for being "the blood son".
• Bluff the Imposter: Runs this routine with someone impersonating his father, casually deconstructing all of the man's excuses and explanations before smashing him into the wall and leaving a Bat-Grenade in his hand.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Like you couldn't imagine. He's easily the most dick-ish member of the Bat-family on his good days. He's also noticeably short for his age, especially considering that his parents are Tall, Dark, and Handsome and Statuesque Stunner.
• Breakout Character: While he was a main character in the books from the moment he was introduced, Grant Morrison saw him from the start as an extension of the Canon Welding in their run and always intended to eventually kill Damian off. However, a combination of his backstory, Character Development (both in Morrison and Peter J. Tomasi's runs) and the novel concept of Robin being Bruce's biological son caused Damian to catch on. Consequently, not only was Damian's death undone, he was introduced into the DC Universe Animated Original Movies with Son of Batman (getting the second-most amount of appearances aside from Bruce), is usually the go-to Robin for outside media if Dick Grayson is filling the Nightwing role, and arguably inspiring the creation of Jon Kent. Polarizing as he may be with fans, it's hard to deny that Damian's position and impact in the DCU has far exceeded what his creator could've predicted.
• Came Back Strong: His resurrection thanks to Darkseid's Omega Force energies accidentally granted him flight and super strength. For a while at least.
• Canon Immigrant: His technical debut was actually in a story called Son of the Demon. It wasn't considered a part of canon until Grant Morrison made it canon via Broad Strokes on their Batman run.
• Catchphrase: Whenever someone asks him how he's able to do something at his age he spouts this:
  Damian: Son. Of. Batman.
• Celebrity Paradox: Of a sort. Damian woke up next to a copy of Robin: Son of Batman (where he is the protagonist) in Superman (Rebirth) #21. However, given that Batman merchandise is known to exist in the DCU, especially after Bruce started Batman, Inc., it makes more sense than most examples.
• Character Development: Damian has gone from being a violent, arrogant and bratty youth, to a more compassionate hero with Smug Snake and Bully Hunter qualities. He doesn't kill any more, and seems to want to do heroic deeds for their own sake. Much of this has to do with both Dick and Bruce's influence on him.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Due to his incredibly intense training as a young boy, he is incredibly strong for his age, punching villains as tough as Killer Croc and managing to support his own weight as well as that of another child his age with one hand. He can also contract his muscles to shift his organs in order to avoid lethal stab wounds and has repeatedly performed feats that would make any athlete green with envy.
• Child by Rape: Conceived when Talia drugged Bruce during their affair, effectively date-raping him. This was later retconned. In the current continuity, it's generally established Talia and Bruce's affair was consensual, but that Bruce wasn't keen on impregnating Talia, whereas for her it was one of the motivators.
• Child Soldier: First with Dick as Batman and himself as Robin. Later on with Bruce as Batman and himself as Robin.
• Clark Kenting: Badly attempted in Streets Of Gotham where he doesn't even try to hide his skills or real name; it doesn't end well.
• The Comically Serious: Shares his father's penchant for saying outlandish things with the straightest face.
  • From Super Sons #1:
    Damian: I could've had a doctorate in geology at seven years old.
    Jon: And why didn't you?
    Damian: Because my mother murdered him and dumped him in the ocean.
    Jon: Ha, yeah right! [sees Damian's completely serious face and breaks into a cold sweat] ...And when did you start driving huh, eight years old?
    Damian: Five, actually.
  • Then there's this exchange from Superman (Rebirth) #20:
    Jon: [Batman, Robin, and Superman are eating pie at the dinner table while in costume] Doesn't your dad like apple?
    Damian: Batman doesn't eat pie.
  • Yet again in Super Sons #6, where he accosts a man for jaywalking with a dog.
    Damian: Stop transgressor! [grabs man by collar] Jaywalking is where it starts! Next thing you know you're knocking over liquor stores in Gotham Heights and working for pennies for scuzz like Two-Face! In my city, we don't put up with this!
    Jon: [playing with the man's dog] Sorry about my friend, he's wound a bit too tight.
    Damian: In my city, I stop crime at its- [gets shoved aside by Jon]
    Jon: Cross at the corners, mister. Keep your dog safe.
  • Again in Dark Nights: Metal #2, while fleeing from the entire Justice League.
    Wonder Woman: Pull over now, Robin! There's no winning here!
    Damian: [While driving the Bat-Hog] Listen, lady, I am thirteen years old and driving a Bat-Hog through the Amazon on a Tuesday morning. I'm already winning!
  • He won't even give high fives to Superboy in Super Sons Annual #1
    Jon: C'mon, up high!
    Damian: [while piloting his Robin-copter] I. Do. Not. High. Five.
    Jon: Fist bump.
    Damian: My fists are used for hitting, not bumping.
    Jon: [watching Damian fly off] Cut back on drinking so much idiot juice why don'cha?!
• Commonality Connection: Damian generally gets along better with people who have daddy issues like he does, at least those outside of the Bat-family. Connor Hawke, Rose Wilson and Jon Kent are all examples. In a subversion, despite his big similarities with Jason Todd, Damian easily hates Jason the most of the other Robins.
• Conditioned to Accept Horror: Having grown up in the League of Assassins, which specializes in murder, arson, terrorism, and other pleasant activities, Damian began as more or less indifferent to most criminals and originally took them down simply out of a need to prove himself to his father. Later on, he becomes more empathetic, and is particularly ticked off by acts of cruelty against children and animals, but is nevertheless able to keep his cool in the face of Gotham's worst criminals.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Damian is far less perky and sociable and was trained from infancy as an assassin compared to the relatively normal (if tragic) civilian lives of the previous Robins. He was also a self-entitled brat who thought nothing of murder against Batman's no-killing rule and attempted to perform a Klingon Promotion rather than having the title of Robin given to him by Batman. Post-Character Development, he's still quite arrogant and snobbish even to other veteran superheroes like Green Arrow and has a lot of trouble interacting with anyone his own age.
• Corrupt the Cutie: Damian's upbringing. He was trained and brought up to be an assassin and made to believe that killing is normal. He was raised by two crazy, sociopathic figures, one being his mother Talia and the other being his villainous grandfather Ra's. Damian could be seen as an innocent child who became psychologically messed up because of his violent upbringing. However, Dick and Bruce have tried to help Damian change and enlighten or teach him about morals, values, the concept of empathy and compassion and the concept of what is right and wrong.
• Creepy Child: He first appears around age eight and attempts to murder the current Robin so he can take his place. A result of being raised by crazy ninjas, and also possibly the combination of Al Ghul and Wayne genes. Living with his father Bruce has helped somewhat, but it's actually Dick Grayson who's really helped him into a solid Heel–Face Turn.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Damian has a very sketchy and dark past which definitely contributes to his violent and dark tendencies. He was raised by assassins and was trained to kill. He also comes from a primarily dysfunctional family with a brainwashed, unstable mother (Talia) and a sinister, crazy and sociopathic grandfather (Ra's). Damian isn't a troubled youth/child for no reason.
• Defector from Decadence: The reason he became a Robin was to get away from his mother's teachings and become more like his father.
• Depending on the Artist: EVERYTHING about his appearance aside from his height and build. How much he looks like Bruce or Talia in terms of skin tone, how round or chiseled his face is, how large his mask is etc.
• Depending on the Writer: His personality is sometimes inconsistent in other books and crossovers. Sometimes he's written as a really serious sociopath kid that rarely gets along with others, while in others he's a nerdy kid with No Social Skills yet wanting to get along with others his age.
• The Determinator: While some fans found Damian's overtly brutal death in Batman Incorporated #8 a little disturbing, even for modern Batbooks, it's also an example of his badassery. The kid is riddled with arrows and bullets, has his back broken, and yet still fights, screaming "Cowards!" at his attackers, and spits blood in Heretic's face in a final act of defiance. Also probably doubles as Made of Iron.
  • In Dark Nights: Metal Damian is accidentally shot in the chest by Green Arrow when Damian's evil Earth -22 counterpart used him as a human shield. This evil Damian then taunts our hero, saying that everything he was doing was pointless and that he'd be better off losing all hope and joining up with Barbatos. Damian responds by grabbing the arrow, tipped with Nth metal, and shoving it all the way through himself in order to fatally impale his evil counterpart.
• Emotionally Tongue-Tied: Tends to fall into this when he's trying to express anything positive, particularly towards Dick.
  Damian: And perhaps... perhaps... I was looking for an excuse to...
  Dick: You miss me.
  Damian: Tell anyone and I will visit a thousand hells upon you, Richard.
• Endearingly Dorky: His standoffish nature belies how awkward he is in general, leading to some oddly endearing outbursts from time to time, going so far as to cheer and dance a little when he gets to opportunity to play. He's also extremely embarrassed when Batgirl catches him practicing his Titans battle cries in an extremely corny way.
  Damian: [yelling at thin air] TO ME, MY TITANS!
  Barbara: [from a ledge behind him] Robin.
  Damian: [turning around, surprised] Ah! Batgirl! Unh... excellent sneakery, but I was fully aware of your presence the whole time and—
  Barbara: Is that why that you're so embarrassed about your little "rallying call", Damian?
• Enfant Terrible: Damian is an adorable, cute looking child but he has sociopathic, violent tendencies. Most of it has to do with the fact that he was raised to be an assassin and a killer.
• Everyone Has Standards: He's established as an extremely pragmatic child and full indoctrinated in how his grandfather and the league think... yet still vomits upon seeing the corpses of all the children Zsasz has murdered.
• Fire-Forged Friends:
  • By the time of Batman and Robin Must Die! Damian fully embraces Dick as his partner, because their adventures together have let them bond.
  • He develops a similar friendship with Stephanie, though he would never admit it.
  • And with Duke Thomas.
  • You could really encapsulate most of his relationships this way. He's a hardass and a stuck-up, bossy brat to anyone he begins working with, but those who stick around with him eventually grow to accept his quirks and see that he's a truly loyal and kind friend when it's needed most.
• Foil: To Jon Kent (Superboy) in Super Sons. Jon has superpowers, but can't control them, and is generally a pleasant person to be around due to his normal and happy upbringing. Damian is a (comparatively) Weak, but Skilled Badass Normal and a Jerk with a Heart of Gold with absolutely atrocious social skills due to his upbringing in the League of Assassins.
• Friendship Moment: He has a roundabout one with Dick after returning from the Titans. He tells Dick not to apologize for sending him to the Titans and that it doesn't matter if he makes friends, because he has one in Gotham, and that is more than enough for him.
  • The Super Sons of Tomorrow arc is one for him and Jon. While he was being a jerk at first, Damian comes to Jon's defense when the Future Tim Drake comes to kill him. He does everything he can to protect Jon, even fighting his own team, the Teen Titans, to do so. And at the end where others are wary of both boys due to their uncertain ominous futures, both boys vow to stick together and protect each other from whatever comes their way.
• Future Badass: Batman #666 has a possible future where he DOES become Batman, though not in a way he wanted. He's a brutal fighter who has booby-trapped the entire city to compensate for his skills not quite measuring up to Bruce or Dick's, and takes the Thou Shalt Not Kill rule to near breaking point (and sometimes outright breaks it). However, he also owns a very cute cat he's affectionately named Alfred and drives a Batmobile the size of a Go-Kart. Make of it what you will...
• Girls Have Cooties: He turns the brattiness up to 11 every time he has to deal with Batgirl (Stephanie Brown) or Supergirl (Kara Zor-El). However, this outward cattiness conceals his admiration for them in much the same way it does with Jon and the other Robins.
• Goggles Do Nothing: Despite all the tactical flaws in having one, Damian adds a hood to his costume, likely just for Rule of Cool.
• Gone Horribly Right: His backstory eerily mirrors Cassandra Cain's - the diverging point lies in the fact that while Cassandra was treated as a weapon, Damian was treated as a prince. As a result, while she is disgusted with killing, Damian is rather ambivalent towards the act if it will further an end.
• Good Is Not Nice: Is probably the least friendly member of the Batfamily (next to Jason) and one of the most willing to resort to excessive force when apprehending someone, frequently terrorizing random criminals for kicks. He once dealt with a man impersonating Batman by tossing him a Bat-Grenade (granted, the man was technically already dead and was being mind controlled by someone else anyways).
• Grade-School C.E.O.: Like his father and older brothers, he's a co-owner of Wayne Enterprises. During Batman RIP, he's shown in a suit, intimidating the board.
• Height Angst: Post-Rebirth, Damian is annoyed at his shortness despite hitting puberty and turning thirteen. It doesn't help that Superboy, who is still in his pre-teens, is taller than him and uses it as leverage in their petty arguments. Also lampshaded by Alfred.
  Alfred: [talking about Damian's Robin uniform] I could only find this one, but it's cleaned, patched, and pressed. The boy has several, but luckily, at the rate he's growing, he'll be able to wear them for the next two decades.
• Heel–Face Turn: Chooses to side with the no-kill ideology of his father rather than stay with his mother... who promptly puts a half-billion dollar bounty on his head.
• Heroic Comedic Sociopath: Post Heel–Face Turn, his murderous background tends to be played up for laughs due to his straight delivery, even though he doesn't kill anymore.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Damian is killed attempting to stop the monstrous clone of himself from killing a girl he rescued. In front of his own mother, who refused to call it off! However, he got better.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Whilst they still bicker a lot, he and Jon seem to have become this trope by Adventures of the Super Sons where they're shown hanging out as old men. This also applies to their appearances in DCeased.
• Hidden Depths: Even early on, during his Jerkass phase, we see him regret failing to save Sasha.
• Hilariously Abusive Childhood:
  • Went through years of mental and physical training to become the "Warrior King of a New Dark Age" and received things like a Jetliner, a Hydrofoil, and an island for Christmas. You want a loyal Tykebomb? Spoil it rotten.
  • Now played straight, because all Damian wanted was his mother to love him, and found being Robin and with the Bat-Family to be far more fulfilling then being the heir to the Al Ghul legacy. Plus, bigger islands, cooler toys.
  • In Super Sons #1, he casually notes that his geology teacher was murdered and dumped in the ocean once Damian learned enough to get himself a doctorate, much to Jon's dismay.
• Hope Spot: "Batman vs. Robin" sets him up for several of these in a very, very cruel fashion. To illustrate: wow, Damian, your father might still be alive, but wait, does that mean you'll lose your place as Robin? That's all right, the man you've come to respect believes in you and is excited to have you helping him solve an old school mystery complete with secret passages and ancient clues! Isn't that wonderfu-SPINE HACK!!!!
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: Damian is insistent at being the best at everything he does, which can make him an irritating braggart who is constantly trying to one-up everyone around him. However, he is also extremely insecure due to how out of place he feels at home due to his upbringing, the fact that the other Robins had spent many more years with his father, and his constant fear of losing everything he gained from turning away from his position as the heir to the al Ghuls. As a result, he is terrible at expressing how he truly feels about those close to him, which leads others to keep him at arm's length in turn.
• It's All My Fault: He blames himself for being unable to save Alfred from Bane and believes the rest of the Batfamily does the same.
• I Just Want to Be Special: Damian always wanted to be considered special to his father, Bruce. More than anything, he has always wanted to be accepted by him and follow in his footsteps. This is exemplified during the Robin War arc, where he is pissed to find out that hundreds of untrained children and teenagers have taken up the identity of Robin, a title he cherishes deeply after he finally began to fit into the Batfamily. In Nightwing (Rebirth), Damian admits that he's terrified of the idea of being forgotten and replaced by another child, whether Bruce takes in another Robin or if Dick settles down to have a child.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: Seems to have this issue as of Rebirth. Unfortunately, his complete lack of social skills means that he goes about it badly.
  • He abducts the other Teen Titans when reforming the team.
  • Despite them both claiming to hate one another, Damian deliberately seeks out Jon to drag him on a mission. It's easy to interpret many of his interactions with Jon as him wanting to make friends but not knowing how, and falling back on the job as an excuse to seek him out.
• Improbable Age: As noted below, Damian has an extremely varied skillset and a keen intellect unheard of for most boys his age, being skilled enough in numerous sciences to earn him doctorates, learning to drive at the age of five, was writing emails to newspaper editors at two, and demolishes entire squads of trained ninja with ease. This is not even taking into account the fact that he can disarm atomic bombs, design his own optical filters, and hack the security systems of major companies like Lexcorp (whose president has a twelfth-level intellect) with a bored yawn. In Super Sons #10 he claims to have learned seven languages and written five doctorate-level theses by the time his baby teeth were finished growing in. This is also deconstructed, as he sacrificed his social skills for this training and often skimps out on daily tasks that his father expects him to do simply because he feels he doesn't need to (i.e. homework from Alfred). His procociousness may also be due to the experiments performed on him by Talia during his development.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Damian claims to be an even better archer than Green Arrow at one point, using a bow he stole from a crook to shoot another crook faster than they can pull the trigger. In another instance, he performs acupuncture with a Batarang, throwing it in such a way that it's embedded in a nerve in a woman's arm, paralyzing it.
• Insufferable Genius: His general demeanor. He does have the skill to prove it in combat, but his arrogance gets him in over his head at times. There's also the fact that he's a pre-teen using words like "interminable". Much like his father, he's also experienced in a variety of fields, schooling Merlyn, one of the highest paid assassins in the world (putting him in the same league as Deathstroke and Deadshot) and Green Arrow's archrival, in a toxicology lesson and stating in Super Sons #1 that he could have gotten a doctorate in geology at seven. The only reason why he didn't was the fact that his mom killed his teacher and dumped the body in the ocean to cover her tracks. He is also an excellent actor, posing as Jon's bus driver and his substitute teacher in the same day, with Jon never suspecting anything until Damian dropped a massive boulder of snow on a bunch of bullies. He's also fluent in several languages, including Arabic, Greek, and Spanish, and is sometimes shown quoting obscure classic literature.
  Jon: And when did you start driving, huh? Eight years old?
  Damian: Five, actually.
• In the Hood: Damian wears a hood as part of his Robin costume. Dick Grayson points out the inconvenience of such an accessory in Batman & Robin vol 1: Batman Reborn - Damian promptly informs Dick that he doesn't even need to see to fight. "I can hear you breathing in the dark," he says, and the subject is dropped.
• Jack of All Stats: Damian is above average in every skill the Robins need to know in order to fight crime but it has been shown that the other Robins have specialties within certain fields that surpass Damian (Tim is better with computers, research, and detective work. Dick is more athletic with far better leadership and interpersonal skills, Jason is also a better leader and is better armed).
• Jerkass: He tried to murder Tim when he was newly arrived from his mother's upbringing claiming that Tim didn't deserve his place in the family or Robin, a title Damian desired for himself. Damian continued to attack Tim even after learning the Batfamily did not operate on You Kill It, You Bought It.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's slowly becoming more mature and more empathetic, especially towards kids.
  • Damian drops most jerkass tendencies when Dick either impresses him or is in trouble. The greatest example of this is when he tries to save Dick during the 'Batman and Robin Must Die!' arc. Damian also leaps into Dick's arms after finding out that he was alive the whole time after Damian's own return from the dead.◊ Later in Nightwing (Rebirth) when he learns that Dick's possibly pregnant girlfriend was kidnapped, he insists on doing everything in his power to help Dick with the rescue, even stealing the old Batmobile the two used during their time as Batman and Robin from the Batcave.
  • And in canon, he was visibly disgusted and threw up when he saw hundreds of dead bodies of children.
  • Also from canon, we found out he has been visiting Hush (who had surgery to make him look like Bruce Wayne), who was imprisoned in the Wayne Tower, and playing chess with him. Hush suspects that he does this because Damian is grieving for his father and it's a way for him to spend some time with his father.
  • He is also genuinely helpful to Jon Kent at times; for instance, he dropped a boulder of snow on a group of bullies who attacked Jon and Kathy. He also goes to great lengths to break Jon out of his cell on Takron-Galtos.
• Karma Houdini: Hey, remember the Spook? The D-list villain whom Damian decapitated? Neither does anyone else, apparently, except for Tim, who reminds him when fighting him in the New 52.
• Katanas Are Just Better: Wielded one in most of his earliest appearances, but has since swapped it out for a significantly less lethal staff as part of settling into his role as Robin rather than an assassin.
• Kid Hero: Damian fits this trope as Robin, especially now that he has become a much more heroic and much kinder person.
• Kids Are Cruel: Damian has his moments of cruelty, such as when he dropped Jon Kent off an eighty-story building just to distract Lex Luthor. He also tends to get into squabbles with his adoptive brothers.
• Kid Sidekick: First to Dick as Batman; later on to Bruce as Batman. Both times as Robin.
• Knight Templar: Teen Titans (Rebirth) is painting him as one of these, although it's wildly inconsistent with it considering that Damian tells Djinn that it doesn't matter that she's done bad things, he has too, and that he doesn't believe she's truly bad since she's a Kind Hearted Cat Lover. It doesn't help that this trait is completely absent from his portrayal in every other Rebirth series, including Super Sons and Adventures of the Super Sons. Possibly justified as this trait seems to have come about as a response to a disagreement with his father at the end of Justice League: No Justice, which canonically occurred after both of the aforementioned series. Taken up to eleven with the secret prison plotline, which recently revealed that he's working with Jason.
• Knight Templar Little Brother: He's fiercely protective of his adopted big brother/father figure/Morality Pet Dick Grayson.
• Lack of Empathy: In the beginning. Although this really changed as time went on, with it being shown and displayed that Damian is indeed capable of guilt, remorse, sympathy and empathy.
• Lamarck Was Right: Justified. He's been trained from early childhood to kick ass; Talia leaves Damian with Bruce to just enhance it.
• Last-Name Basis: Addresses everyone by their hero or villain title or their last name (i.e. Todd, Drake, and Pennyworth). Initially, the only exceptions are his father, mother, and grandfather. However, he eventually starts addressing Dick Grayson as "Richard", a far cry from how he addresses the other Robins. He later addresses Maya by her first name as well. When he's being truly candid with others, he'll use their first name, as he does with Dick and Jon.
• Leader Wannabe: At Dick's urging, he briefly joined the Teen Titans pre-Flashpoint, and as the resident Robin, declared himself leader (Tim Drake/Red Robin, the real leader, was absent at the time). However, everyone else thought of him as annoying, and he left once Tim came back.
• Le Parkour: Dick is still the better acrobat, but Damian is so good at this that he can maneuver through entire secret bases without ever touching the floor.
• Licked by the Dog:
  • Alfred and Dick actually believe that Damian can grow up to do his father's legacy justice. So far, they seem to be right, as he finds being Robin and doing good to be best thing he's done with his life, eventually breaking away from his mother completely.
  • Quite literally, by baby Goliath.
• Like Father, Like Son:
  • Damian is Bruce ratcheted up to eleven. He's just as skilled despite being younger, is even more arrogant, has even fewer social skills and tactically is more likely to come up with darker plans.
  • In the future, it is shown or suggested that Damian will follow in his father Bruce's footsteps as the future Batman. In Detective Comics (Rebirth), an alternate future version of Tim Drake murders Damian after his overly pragmatic methods razed half of Gotham to the ground before taking the cowl himself.
• Likes Older Women: According to Damian. He has professed interest in both Katana and Supergirl (and starting a relationship with Djinn in the Teen Titans, who's over four thousand years old). It may be because he sees himself as an adult.
• Living Emotional Crutch: After his death, Batman became an emotional wreck who lashed out at everyone and everything with increasing brutality while using increasingly extreme methods to try and revive Damian. He becomes significantly more level-headed after Damian is resurrected.
  • Damian is also one for Dick, who breaks down and hallucinates a scenario where he became a disheveled, murderous vigilante named "Bloodwing" after he believes that Damian was killed by Dr. Hurt.
• Lonely Rich Kid: Before breaking away from his mother, he was never allowed to socialize with kids his own age. This leads to him having No Social Skills.
• Luke, You Are My Father: More like "Batman, I'm your son." This is what Damian's first meeting with Bruce consisted of, along with Damian holding a sword to his dad's neck.
• Luminescent Blush: In Super Sons #9, his ears are seen turning bright red while receiving a heartfelt hug from Hard Line and Big Shot.
• Master-Apprentice Chain: In Batman #700, it shows not only the chain of Bruce > Dick > Damian, but that Damian will later teach Terry McGinnis from Batman Beyond; the chain keeps going all the way to Batman One Million.
• Meaningful Name: Damian means "one who tames, subdues", while he is "tamed" by the Batfamily. The name is often said to mean "demon" or "son of the devil", and his mother's surname, Al Ghul, means "of the demon".
• Multi-Melee Master: As the 99 Fiends find out.
  Damian: [to Ra's over a walkie-talkie while standing on a pile of unconscious bodies] Ninjas, grandfather? Really? I'm disappointed.
• My Dad Can Beat Up Your Dad: Fine, when your dad is Batman, you can have bragging rights.
  • He doesn't seem to understand that Batman and Superman are actually good friends. He can't understand why Batman would respect Superman at all since he (Damian) is annoyed by Superman's idealism. This carries over into his interactions with Jon. When they both get grounded for running off in the middle of the night for an adventure (that involved breaking in to Lex Luthor's property), he assumes that he is only being grounded because Batman wants to save face with Superman since Jon is grounded too.
• The Napoleon: At age thirteen, he's still shorter than the ten-year-old One Head Taller Jon Kent, a fact he frequently uses to tease Damian.
• Nurture over Nature: This trope is discussed in relation to Damian in Batman and Robin (2009), when Dick and Damian take on a villain who is killing people based on the actions of their family members. Early on in the same series, Damian is determined to save a girl from Professor Pyg and heartbroken when he fails. It's a subtle way of showing that he's a good person who was raised to be bad. Damian has a father who follows Thou Shalt Not Kill and a mother who is an assassin, so he could have gone either way. Ultimately, he becomes a hero due to the influence of Dick, Alfred, and Bruce.
• No Social Skills: Damian has issues with communicating with others and getting along with people. However, he does eventually start to change his ways. It's revealed that he actually hired someone to teach him how to act socially.
• Not Blood, Not Family: While the other Robins have had a degree of Adoption Angst and dislike for each other in the past, Damian Wayne is the one who begins here and takes an awfully long time to step out of it (especially with Tim Drake), assuming that being Batman's biological son makes him the "true" Robin and also the only "true" member of Batman's family.
• Not So Above It All: Despite generally being portrayed as a very serious young man, he frequently lets it be known that he is still a kid and is willing to indulge in quite a bit of silliness. Case in point, he acquires a pet cow, which he appropriately names Bat-Cow.
• Odd Friendship: In the adventure they shared together in the Supergirl series Damian was actually downright pleasant in his own way towards Jaime Reyes, Blue Beetle. It could arguably also be something of a Pet the Dog. Or he just might enjoy the company of the low key and genuine Nice Guy type, as Jaime and Dick are.
• Older Than They Look: He could still pass for an elementary schooler at thirteen because of how short he is. For this reason, strangers often assume him to be Jon's younger brother.
• One-Man Army: His training makes him this on his best days, allowing him to clear entire rooms full of crooks single-handedly and take down smaller groups in seconds. If he's fighting normals and they aren't at least as well-trained or armed as he is, they're going down without much of a fight.
• Orc Raised by Elves: Was raised by his mother and trained by the League of Assassins as a killer at early age. Without knowing a word of his existence, Damian appears in his 10s in Bruce Wayne's house as a ruthless and violent kid left there by Talia to disrupt Batman's work. With his mentorship as well as Dick Grayson's (who would become the new Batman when Bruce temporarily died), Damian makes a Heel–Face Turn and eventually becomes the new Robin, being like an Anti-Hero version of this Kid Sidekick.
• Parental Abandonment: He only knew about his father for much of his life, rather than know him personally, and, pre-Flashpoint, his mom wasn't very proactive in his rearing. His mother has abandoned him now as well, because he chooses to side with Dick, Alfred and his father's ideals over Talia. This also applies to his relationship with Bruce, to a lesser extent. Like his adopted brothers, Damian also grapples with Bruce's freqeunt emotional absence.
• Pet the Dog: Is genuinely horrified at the hundreds of dead children he and Dick find on Christmas Day, and has a soft spot for animals. The latter must run in the family.
  • We also found out that he's been visiting Hush (who had surgery to make him look exactly like Bruce Wayne) in his prison at the Wayne Tower and playing chess with him. But Hush himself suspects it's Damian's form of grieving for his father's death and a way for him to spend more time with his "father".
  • His giving Colin/Abuse the Cycle Of Abuse, as a roundabout way of thanking him for his assistance.
  • He bonds with the Great Dane his father gave him, naming it Titus and they have had several scenes together.
  • In Batman #666, he owns a cat that he named Alfred. He now owns this cat in the current comics as well.
  • All of Batman and Robin Annual #1. While there was a somewhat selfish bent behind his actions (Damian wanted to be able to patrol Gotham as Batman for a few days as a Call-Forward to Batman #666), he effectively sends his father on vacation to various locales treasured by Martha and Thomas Wayne, bringing a great number of smiles to Bruce's face while taking him completely by surprise multiple times. All of the people Damian contacted to make this happen considered him sweet and courteous, much to Bruce's (hidden) disbelief.
  • In Super Sons #9 he's genuinely furious when Yggardis speaks of the heroes of Eoroe with disdain.
    Damian: Those are people! Not your clay playthings! People from a planet you destroyed! And we're going to fight until our last breath to make sure it's the last- [gets cut off by Superboy]
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: The youngest of the Robins, but still extremely (if not more than the other Robins) competent.
• Precocious Crush: Dick teases him over having a crush on Supergirl.
• Princely Young Man: Damian often acts very snobbish, entitled and stuck up. Why wouldn't he? He's strong, he's intelligent, he's capable, he's rich AND most of all, he's Bruce Wayne/Batman's biological son and the heir to the al Ghul bloodline. Unfortunately, this still doesn't earn him very many friends at West-Reeve.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: When Supergirl asks Damian how he knew about a crime before she told him, he only replied "Son. Of. Batman."
  • More recently, his response to offers for high-fives.
  Damian: [while piloting his Robin-copter] I. Do. Not. High. Five.
• Rasputinian Death: The kid gets put through the wringer before finally dying. Gets the Bane styled "Back snap", gets shot with a shower of arrows, and thrown though a wall, before finally getting fatally stabbed.
• Real Men Wear Pink: His solo 2021 series shows him casually reading a Shōjo manga.
• Reckless Sidekick: His superiority complex from his League of Assassins training and being Batman's son has made him a very reckless child, but he's developing out of it.
• Redemption Demotion: He's still as agile and intelligent as he was when he first appeared, it's just the fact that he can't kill tends to render most of the stratagems he was taught moot; cue many beatdowns.
• The Resenter: In his early appearances, part of his attitude was that there were three young men Bruce Wayne had been like a father to, and he wasn't one of them. Bruce has made up for that since, and his relationship with his predecessors has become somewhat less antagonistic.
• Royal Brat: Alright, technically he's not royalty, but his maternal grandfather is Ra's Al Ghul and his father is Batman.
• Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training: His upbringing in the League of Assassins and his natural talent allow him to excel at almost everything a Robin could be asked to, hand-to-hand combat, computer hacking, marksmanship, stealth, detective work and so on. However, his lack of interaction with anyone his own age for the majority of his life means that he has No Social Skills and struggles to empathize with others and fit in after turning away from his murderous past.
• Scare 'Em Straight: The beginning of his solo series implies that for all his reluctant attempts at superheroism, he went straight to Hell when he died, which encourages him to try and atone for his past mistakes when given another chance at life.
• Secret-Keeper: For Huntress in the New 52.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: He uses words no kid his age would, like transgressor, interminable, and alopecia (baldness caused by an immune disorder) in casual conversation.
• Sexy Shirt Switch: Parodied in the second chapter of Peter Tomasi's Black Dawn storyline in Superman (Rebirth) where, after having to sleep over at the Kent household overnight (which he hadn't planned for), Damian is forced to wear some of Jon's old clothes including a shirt that's too big and shorts that are way too short.
• Shadow Archetype: His composition makes him one to the Bat Clan (Bruce's age when his quest for vengeance began with many of the skills he would come to acquire but none of the maturity, Dick's being formally trained before being Robin with the loving parents replaced with sinister assassins, Jason's violent tendencies, Tim's intelligence minus the patience and rationale to utilize it properly, and, as mentioned above, Cassandra's general origin of being raised as a killer, minus all the stuff that made Cass want to avoid that origin in the first place).
• Sibling Rivalry: With both Jason and Tim. He clashes with Jason because of their similar personalities and Jason's status as the "bad" Robin as well as Bruce's son, while Jason sees him as an entitled little brat. He dislikes Tim because he initially saw Tim as his competition in being Batman's partner and son, and after Damian almost killed Tim and replaced him as Robin, Tim has no love for Damian either, seeing him as an entitled, bratty murderer. Damian notably addresses Jason and Tim by their last names, and specifically reminds Tim that he's adopted numerous times. All of this is averted with Dick, who Damian not only respects and loves as a brother, but also addresses as "Richard".
• Sibling Yin-Yang: With Tim. Damian is the polar opposite of Tim in terms of upbringing, beliefs and values. Damian was brought up in a violent, chaotic environment. Tim was brought up in a loving, caring environment. The differences in the way Tim and Damian were brought up helped to shape Tim and Damian's personalities, beliefs, ideologies and outlooks.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: To Jason.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Subverted, he really is as deadly as he says... he's just not allowed to kill. Most of the time anyway; he gets away with beheading a Talon in the Court of Owls arc as a result of their incredible regeneration abilities.
• Sociopathic Hero: Played for Drama at times and Played for Laughs at others. Damian's upbringing with the League of Assassins has given him a superiority complex and some very disturbing perspectives. He gets better with time though.
• Sour Supporter: He'll sneer and chide to the moon, but he rarely disobeys an order. It's hard to find a superhero as vitriolic as Damian. It's even harder to find a more stalwart ally once you've earned his trust.
• Spoiled Brat: Damian's a capable fighter, smart, tough, rich and entitled. But most of all, he's Bruce Wayne/Batman's biological son. He's also spoiled (his mom gave him islands for Christmas) with a strong sense of self-entitlement.
• The Straight and Arrow Path: As Redbird.
• Thicker Than Water: Played with. Green Arrow notes that for all of Damian's pride, he is fiercely loyal to his family (especially his father and Dick) above all else, to the point of being almost blindly obedient to his father's instructions during Dark Nights: Metal. When Arrow begins criticizing Batman's actions, Damian is quick to refute him, which only serves to prove Arrow's point. However, Batman is his only blood relative, while the rest of his siblings are adoptive.
• Token Super: Damian was this for the Batfamily for a little while when he got powers temporarily.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Damian learned the concept of love and compassion as time progressed. Most of this occurred under the guidance, mentoring and tutelage of Dick (his adoptive brother) and later on, Bruce (his father). Both Dick and Bruce have managed to help shape Damian into a much more compassionate person capable of love, empathy, sympathy and affection, even if he's still bratty and arrogant much of the time.
• Trap Master: His unique flavor of Crazy-Prepared during his tenure as Batman. According to him, he lacks the skill of Bruce or Dick, so before going public as the new Batman, he spent three years booby-trapping the entire city.
• Troubled, but Cute: Damian is so adorable, yet is so incredibly troubled at the same time. He comes from an upbringing of pure, utter dysfunction and he was raised to be a sociopathic, violent person.
• Troubled Child: Comes from a violent upbringing, was raised to be an assassin and kill innocents, has strong parental issues with his mother Talia, was exposed to and raised by a sociopathic, crazy villain of a grandfather (Ra's Al Ghul), has Parental Abandonment issues with both of his parents (Bruce and Talia), didn't have a father figure in his life for 10 years, had to suffer his parents being at odds with each other and fighting over who gets possession of him therefore, resulting in only more chaos and dysfunction for Damian, doesn't exactly fit in with the rest of the Bat Family and appeared to be the automatic unfavorite amongst the Wayne/Bat-Family. Yeah, one can understand or see why Damian is so troubled.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Damian is a ten-year-old who is firmly convinced that he's the natural successor to his father's legacy and Dick Grayson is an idiot. In addition to being a particularly grim (and potentially deadly) Robin, he is frighteningly efficient at running Wayne Enterprises due to his extreme intelligence and his strong business acumen.
  • With Damian, several characters acknowledged it was a bad thing. Bruce originally didn't let him out in the field, and he only became Robin under Dick. Dick got him to act a little more normal though Dick's extreme own personal combo of experience, patience, and just being a good person. Stephanie, after learning Damian had never really played in his life, forced him onto a moon-bounce with her (though she admitted she was pretty sure he wasn't joking about stabbing her several times during her run) and usually ignored him when he got bratty. Damian acted a little more like a kid around Colin Wilkes (probably to put Colin, who was the same age, more at ease), but it was a major change form his original characterization.
  • Tim and many other people still found him very unnerving even by the time of the reboot, though.
  • One of the major themes in Batman and Robin from the New 52 reboot is the difficulty Bruce is having in keeping Damian under control.
• Tsundere: Damian refuses to admit it to Dick's face, but he respects him very greatly, even standing up to his mother, Talia, when she bad mouths him. They have a more brotherly relationship then he'd care to admit, despite his snarky comments to Dick. He also seems to be this way towards Stephanie, Jon, and Alfred.
  • By "Batman and Robin Must Die!", Damian openly shows concern and tries his hardest to save Dick from Dr. Hurt. He even outright apologies to Dick for failing to save him. Maybe he's outgrowing it.
  • Seems to be developing it with Jon Kent. Despite the amount of time the two boys spend together and the hints that show Damian values his time with Jon, he still refuses to acknowledge that they are friends. Even though at times he seems more like he's friends with Jon more than he is with the Teen Titans.
• Tyke Bomb: Damian was trained from an early age to be a warrior. The difference between him and Cassandra is that she was treated as a weapon. Damian was treated as a prince, spoiled rotten and able to do whatever he wants.
• Use Your Head: When trapped in a stone coffin and lacking the leverage to force his way out with his fists, he resorts to smashing it open with his forehead instead. Once he escapes, his forehead is bright red and somewhat bloody.
  Damian: The fool may have nailed the lid down, but he compromised its structural integrity! The same cannot be said for my head.
• Vague Age: In the New 52, his age is never explicitly stated and it's said that Talia artificially aged him. Only five of his birthdays are shown, and this lined up neatly with the New 52's "five year" timeline, where superheroes were only public for five years initially, with Batman later established as active for six. However, by the time Rebirth starts and has aged characters up somewhat (including Bruce), Damian is explicitly thirteen.
• Verbal Tic: *tt*, it's not entirely certain what kind of sound it is, but many fans believe that it is the sound of Damian clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth.
  • More likely than not, the sound is actually an aspirated t [t^h] (say the letter t the way you would a p), which could have led to the use of "-tt-" instead of "tch" in the comics. The sound itself is quite common in Middle Eastern languages (actually showing up as the Armenian letter թ) and is really, really derisive.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Shades of this with Stephanie, though good grief, it's heavy with Jon Kent; their first adventure begins and ends with the two of them slugging it out. Despite this, when he wants to go on his own adventures without his father or the Teen Titans, he goes to Jon, so he obviously genuinely likes him to a degree. While he maintains his aloof and "holier-than-thou" attitude with Jon at almost all times, he does say things like, "Let's just cut right to me and my pal kicking your—", showing that Damian does in fact care for his compatriot. Whenever something comes up that may jeopardise his friendship with Jon, Damian will leap to stop it.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy:
  • He was designed, trained, and conditioned to please his mother and fulfill her ambitions, and his greatest childhood wish was to meet his father. Some of his most aggressive and insecure actions have stemmed from his wish to be the greatest in the eyes of one of his parents, both of whom can be very emotionally distant.
  • He shows this towards Dick as well.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Slowly, beginning in Batman and Robin, under the constant tutelage of Dick Grayson and after being imparted a couple of lessons in teamwork from Tim Drake, Damian's brash cockiness evolves into an overly serious, competent but gloomy hero. A little clone of his daddy. Stephanie Brown, the third Batgirl (not counting Helena Bertinelli) comes actually to pity his utter inability to act his age anymore, being a 10 year old kid unable to play or interact with other children easily, but deadly competent in crimefighting and investigation, with snarker-tendencies. Nevertheless, he does have his moments of childishness.
• You Can't Go Home Again: By choice, as he found being a part of the Bat-family to be a more fulfilling life than being the prince of the League of Assassins.
• Younger Than He Looks: In order for the New 52 timeline to make any sense at all with him (Bruce is active for 6 years and didn't meet Talia in his first year), it is very much implied that Damian is not actually ten years old, but merely has the physical body of a ten year old, and was rapidly aged along with his test-tube birth thanks to a shard of New God phlebotinum that Bruce and Clark encountered in their (forgotten) first encounter prior to their forming the Justice League.

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