Damian Wayne is coming to live-action with the DCU movie The Brave & The Bold, but the character already has a rich history in DC lore. Batman carries a well-deserved reputation for burning through sidekicks faster than Batmobile tires, and while Dick Grayson remains the most famous Robin, numerous others have held that title. Following Grayson, Jason Todd and Tim Drake in mainline DC continuity is Damian Wayne, Batman's biological son. Although Damian has never before featured in a live-action Batman movie, his debut is officially scheduled for DCU chapter 1, Gods & Monsters.
The Brave & The Bold will introduce a new Batman to the DCU. This iteration of Bruce Wayne is shocked to discover he has a secret son, and must suddenly figure out how to parent a young Damian. While the mentor and student dynamic shared by Batman and Robin is a familiar one, the notion of Batman becoming a dad is distinctly less so due to Damian Wayne's absence from live-action Batman releases. As such, there is plenty to understand about Bruce Wayne's son, and how this new Robin could factor into the DCU's future.
Damian Wayne Is The Son Of Batman & Talia Al Ghul
The romantic connection between Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul, daughter of classic Batman villain Ra's al Ghul, is well established within DC continuity, and known more widely thanks to The Dark Knight Rises, in which Christian Bale's Bruce shared a liaison with Marion Cotillard's Talia. The Christopher Nolan trilogy-ender did not, however, reveal that Bruce and Talia produced a child called Damian. In DC comic lore, Talia keeps her pregnancy hidden from the Dark Knight, raises Damian in secret, then finally introduces the boy to his biological father for the first time after a bloody battle.
Damian's conception is revealed as a deliberate ploy on Talia's behalf to produce the perfect heir, but the child's rapid development convinces her that Batman's guidance will prove more beneficial than continued tutelage under the League of Assassins. Taking cues from Grant Morrison's Batman & Son comic run, The Brave & The Bold will pick up several years after Bruce and Talia's whirlwind romance, beginning with Damian meeting his father for the first time, and focusing on their early interactions, just as the source material did. Although not yet confirmed, the DCU movie and TV franchise will very likely cast another live-action version of Talia al Ghul.
Damian Wayne's Origins & Powers In DC Comics
Though Damian Wayne does not possess superpowers in the traditional sense, his training and skills are utterly unlike those of his father and the other Robins. Instead of a regular pregnancy, Talia grew Damian in an artificial external womb and designed him to be a genetically perfect assassin - hence the requirement for Batman's DNA. From that ideal biological foundation, Damian was provided all the skills and training offered by the al Ghul family's League of Assassins, making him a formidable fighter long before he even started shaving. The Damian Wayne Batman character does not have super-strength or other inhuman abilities, but was conceived and raised for the express purpose of killing.
Thanks to the extensive scientific knowledge and centuries of experience possessed by the League of Assassins, Damian Wayne is highly proficient in combat, acrobatics, stealth, and weapons, but also boasts intelligence and knowledge to match, able to go toe-to-toe with his father over matters of an academic nature. The disconnect between Damian's ruthlessness and Batman's mercy forms the heart of their relationship, so the youngster will very likely be highly trained already when appearing in the DCU's The Brave & The Bold movie.
How Damian Wayne Becomes Robin
When Damian Wayne first meets Batman, he expresses a desire to immediately become his father's Robin, believing it his birthright. Unfortunately for Damian, Batman is still partnering with Tim Drake at this juncture in his superhero career, and this leads to huge tension between Bruce's current Robin and Damian as his sidekick-in-waiting. In Grant Morrison's Batman & Son, Damian hijacks the Robin role by force, beating up Tim Drake and appearing before his father in full costume. Batman, of course, is unwilling to entertain his son's behavior, and continues with Drake as Robin, but the situation changes when Bruce "dies" and Gotham City is left to survive without him.
A power struggle for Batman's cowl emerges, with Dick Grayson ultimately wresting the responsibility of becoming Bruce Wayne's successor from the merciless Jason Todd. The new Batman decides to replace Tim Drake with Damian Wayne, believing he has nothing to teach Tim but plenty of lessons to impress upon Bruce's tearaway son. If the DCU The Brave & The Bold movie broadly follows the same path, Damian Wayne will only have flashes of being Robin during his debut appearance. Damian's presence in the early DCU does, however, set up major roles for Tim Drake and Dick Grayson as his mentors, while also dangling the possibility of Bruce Wayne's death.
Why Damian Wayne Is The DCU's Robin
James Gunn has already confirmed Batman will play a major role in his DC reboot, but the addition of Damian Wayne as Robin in this very first DCU Bat-chapter is unexpected indeed. Whereas most live-action Batman movies ignore Robin entirely, the DCU has jumped over the heads of Dick Grayson, Jason Todd and Tim Drake to land directly on the story of how Batman's devilish little son becomes his sidekick. The most likely motivation Gunn and Safran would begin their Bruce Wayne story by adapting Batman & Son is to differentiate from the various other modern movies featuring the Dark Knight.
The DCU is a soft-reset of the DCEU, which starred Ben Affleck as an unhappy, lonely, brutal veteran of a Caped Crusader. Simultaneously, Robert Pattinson appears in The Batman as a younger version of the same hero, still learning the ropes of vigilante work in his second year on the Gotham City night shift. The Brave & The Bold needed to offer a Batman story entirely separate to both Ben Affleck and Robert Pattinson, and walking that tricky balance has resulted in the DCU seeing Damian Wayne as a solution. Dadman is an angle never before taken on the big screen, and offers a flavor unique from any prior cinematic iteration.
A second potential reason the DCU may be installing Damian Wayne as Robin could involve Batman's future. Batman will surely play a major role in the DCU moving forward, but The Brave & The Bold is clearly introducing Bruce as a long-in-the-tooth hero. Damian Wayne's origin story in DCU chapter 1 could indicate James Gunn and Peter Safran's intention to have Dick Grayson become the franchise's main Batman in future DCU movies, with Bruce Wayne restricting to a supporting role, and Damian Wayne acting as Grayson's Robin.
What Damian Wayne In Batman: The Brave & The Bold Means
The biggest takeaway from Damian Wayne being confirmed for the DCU's The Brave & The Bold is the implied existence of a very established Batman universe. This is a franchise where Batman has already been a superhero for a considerable amount of time, and already brought multiple sidekicks under his wing. The wider Bat-family is firmly in place, and Batman has been enemies with Ra's al Ghul at least long enough to sleep with his daughter. In all likelihood, the Dark Knight has already faced the majority of his Batman Rogues Gallery in the DCU, which rules out a great many origin stories playing out onscreen.
Damian Wayne joining The Brave & The Bold also continues the DCU's shift toward a more youthful philosophy. As per James Gunn, the DCU's new Superman will be a younger, fresher Kryptonian refugee near the beginning of their superhero career, and the title Superman: Legacy speaks to that idea of a new generation emerging. Batman may have years of experience when The Brave & The Bold begins, but throwing Damian Wayne into the mix continues the DCU's youthful streak - especially if Dick Grayson ultimately becomes Damian's full-time mentor.
