Spoilers for Batman vs Robin #3!When it comes to the sprawling hero team known as the Bat-Family, Batman has always had some version of Robin to help him along during his nightly escapades across Gotham City. And now, when pitted against his latest Boy Wonder and biological son, Damian Wayne, Batman finally admits how he failed each of his Robins, and if this story is of any indication, Bats definitely made some mistakes along the way.
An iconic legacy role passed down from hero to hero over the decades, Batman has taken more Robins under his wing than fans can shake a batarang at. From the original Robin, Dick Grayson, to the second “violent” one, Jason Todd, to the fan-favorite, Tim Drake, to the short-lived Stephanie Brown, all the way up to the current Robin, Damian Wayne, Batman has never had a shortage of sidekicks to call his own, with this Batman vs Robin event series bringing them all into the spotlight in an eye-opening way.
Written by Mark Waid and illustrated by Mahmud Asrar and Scott Godlewski, Batman vs Robin #3 sees Batman on the defensive against a demon-possessed Damian Wayne who wants to see his father fall, especially after Damian ascends to a preliminary version of his future bat-self dubbed Batman 666. Reaching Lazarus Island, home of the Devil Nezha, aka the demon pulling everyone’s strings, Batman continues his journey to save his son from himself and is soon met by four Bat-Family members that have also been corrupted by Nezha’s influence, bringing to light the failures of The Dark Knight in terms of how he's treated his Robins over the years.
Batman Has Failed All of His Robins
First attacked by a Nezha-tainted Tim Drake, Batman quickly realizes that thanks to Nezha’s power, each of his Robins will be challenging him in battle physically as well as mentally as they comment on their deepest issues with their father figure and mentor. Talking about how Batman failed Tim by replacing him with Damian despite Tim’s loyalty to him over the years, Batman next faces Stephanie Brown and quickly points out that she was a Robin he failed by never taking her seriously nor having the patience to do so. Batman is next met by Jason Todd, who immediately dredges up Batman’s failure to save his life at the hands of Joker and more cutting, when Jason needed help upon his return, Batman ignored him since he was acting like a criminal, something that could have been avoided if Batman was there for Jason at his darkest hour.
Finally, the OG Robin, Dick Grayson, arrives on the scene and tells Batman he failed him by essentially forcing him into a life that took away who Dick was as a person — as a showman in the Flying Graysons — to become Robin instead, destroying any sense of an identity his young self could have developed on his own, in the process. Couple these failures with the idea that Batman has clearly not learned from these mistakes by pushing Damian away and not respecting his role in the greater Bat-Family, and Batman admitting how he failed his Robins are not only sad facts to come to terms with for this DC Comics hero, but accurate ones as well.
Batman vs Robin #3 is now available from DC Comics.