Warning: contains spoilers for Robin #1
It's no understatement to say that Damian Wayne is the most arrogant Robin by a wide margin. While some fans loathe the character because of this, his training and skill in combat make his pride somewhat justified. However, Damian's most vocal critics may have just been vindicated by a new villain who is Damian's exact opposite.
Damian Wayne has been going through a rough time lately. Bane's killing of Alfred took Damian to a dark place that saw his iteration of the Titans imprison and torture villains. This dark path eventually led his own team to turn on him after he attempted to kill Dick Grayon's would-be assassin, KGBeast. The fallout of this poor decision was so disastrous that Batman had to step in and tell Damian that the Titans were over. Feeling that everyone from the Titans to his own father had betrayed him, Damian blew up and resigned as Robin. Now he seems to have reclaimed the mantle in his new solo series Robin Joshua Williamson, Gleb Melnikov, and Troy Peteri.
After quitting as Robin, Damian briefly joined his mother. Through working with Talia, Damian discovered DC's Mortal Kombat, the Lazarus Tournament. In order to receive an invite, he absolutely demolishes the villain King Snake in a cage match. Though he feels conflicted about sparing King Snake (who is Bane's father), he is quickly able to push those thoughts away when he boards the boat to Lazarus Island. At the Island, Damian is ready to fight, to which a young villain named Flatline obliges. Damian tries to brag that he learned from the greatest living fighters, to which Flatline counters that she's learned from the greatest dead ones. She reasons that Damian's biggest flaw is that he's never had to learn from defeat. As if to punctuate this point, she counters one of Damian's attacks and then rips his heart right out of his chest.
At the heart of the conflict between Damian and Flatline is the differences in their training. Between Batman, Talia Al'Ghul, and Ra's Damian hasn't been trained by people who are used to losing. It is easy to be annoyed by Damian's arrogance, and there are certainly times where it's been overdone, but it's important to understand that pride is practically in his DNA. Talia and Ra's legitimately believe themselves to be superior to everyone else on earth. Meanwhile, Batman may not be as outwardly boastful but still carries himself with a great deal of pride.
This is truly what makes Flatline Damian's opposite. She mentions that her power is to absorb the last memory of dead fighters, meaning that she has studied countless defeats from people just as full of themselves as Ra's or Batman. While Damian will very obviously be resurrected in the Lazarus pit to fight another day, this represents the most devastating defeat he's ever faced. By defeating Robin, Flatline may have taught Damian the most important lesson he'll ever learn, humility.