Damian Wayne

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Character
Name: Damian Wayne
Occupation: assassin, masked vigilante
Relationships: Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul (parents)
Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, and Tim Drake (adoptive brothers), Cassandra Cain (adoptive sister)
Ra's al Ghul (maternal grandfather), Thomas and Martha Wayne (paternal grandparents)
Nyssa Raatko (maternal aunt)
Stephanie Brown (friend and ally)
Fandom: Batman main title after #655, other titles in the Batman (franchise) with various Robins' subsequent identities, DC Rebirth, Batman: Wayne Family Adventures
Other:
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Damian Wayne is the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul, raised as part of the League of Assassins. He's ten years old when he becomes the fifth person to take up the Robin identity. He temporarily died in post-Flashpoint continuity, but he was eventually resurrected with temporary superpowers. In DC Rebirth, he leads the Teen Titans (in the 2016 vol. 6 run) and teams up with Jon Kent (in a Super Sons run).

Canon background

Damian, in concept, was created in 1987’s Batman: Son of the Demon. Bruce Wayne "marries" Talia al Ghul and they conceive him not too long afterwards. When he hurts himself trying to protect her, Talia decides she can’t let him live like that so she pretends to have a miscarriage and puts an unnamed baby up for adoption. It wasn’t considered canon at the time but many other elseworlds ran with the idea of Bruce and Talia having a kid. Another take on that hypothetical child, Ibn al Xu'ffasch (literally Son of the Bat), appeared in Mark Waid’s Kingdom Come in 1996...


When Grant Morrison took over Batman in 2006, he took the idea of the child of Bruce and Talia and made him canon. The new story was that Talia raised Damian in secrecy and trained him to be the best warrior on the planet and she came pretty close. Damian (who was about eight when he was first introduced) was already a formidable fighter but he was brash and arrogant and saw himself as the true heir of Batman when he was introduced to the family. Damian attacked Tim Drake the first time they ever meet (as he saw Tim as a rival for Batman’s attention) and was just generally not good around any people. But when Bruce Wayne was sent back in time, there was a new Batman who needed a Robin and so Dick took Damian under his wing (pun intended). After a bit of a rocky start, Dick and Damian began to bond and become a great team together. Damian really began to evolve from an arrogant kid who cared for no one but himself into a heroic, noble character under Dick.[1]

Race and whitewashing

Interactions with fandoms of other characters

i understand that tim stans are unhappy about how he’s being written in the more recent comics, but to compare it to the sheer amount of racism damian’s character received is wilfully misunderstanding the problem. people are angry that one of the only mainstream arab characters in dc was villainised for no reason. this isn’t about who “deserves” to be robin more (which is a stupid debate to even be having), this is about brown kids finally seeing a young hero they could relate to in one of the world’s most popular franchises, and watching him be removed from that role for a white character.[2]

like yeah damians main crimes are:

  • not being white and even more so being related to GASP al ghuls who had all their nuance erased already bc nobody reads comics before writing comics lmao
  • UNACCEPTABLE SURVIVOR YES because damian is rough and he has sharp edges and he doesn’t get jokey and friendly with everyone and he’s just not likeable or relatable and that’s the biggest crime you can commit lmao cass got pushed into the role of a “good victim”, sweet perfect and quiet but damians assassination wouldn’t be as easy and quick and there’s no arab stereotype to base it on I guess lmao
  • YEAH LMAO he made the mistake of starting beef with tim male projection drake and like, I’m sorry he’s so iconic that he’s the most interesting thing to happen to your fave, y'all just mad bc damian stans stay losing but at least our fave gets to age[3]

Fanon

Damian grew a lot over the course of his comics. He was probably the robin with the most character development. Fanon ignores this development because the smol angry child trope is easier than actually understanding a complex character.[4]

Fanon Damian Wayne: Damian is basically a 6 year old trapped in a 10 year old’s body. He says and does generically cute things that are below his age level in order to inspire “awwwww” moments in fanfictions. Although he’ll act like it upsets him when other characters hug him, he usually won’t care too much and might even secretly want the attention beneath the surface. The other version of Damian is an overpowered punk who is smarter and tougher than everyone in the room. Damian calls everyone stupid and succeeds in showing them how to do their jobs in more efficient ways. He’s a better fighter than everyone despite his age. Overall, he’s a perfect soldier with no flaws.[5]

Occasional fanon: either baby-like, over cute fluff ball; OR murder machine who deserves to die.

Not unlike Bruce, nuance and all that.[6]

Damian often carries swords, expresses himself only with the short sound “Tt”, and is called “Demon Spawn” by others.

The Spanish-language fandom affectionately refers to Damian by the tongue-in-cheek moniker la bolita de ódio ("little ball of hate").[7]

Relationships

Damian has a close connection to his first partner (and adoptive brother) Dick Grayson, which is often written as platonic but could also be written as romantic, perhaps as futurefic. Familial or gen fic also often highlights his familial relationships: Jason Todd & Damian Wayne, Tim Drake & Damian Wayne, and Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne.

He had a slightly antagonistic/bantering friendship with pre-Flashpoint Batgirl Stephanie Brown.

In DC Rebirth, new Superboy Jon Kent was introduced. Damian and Jon shared a series called Super Sons and their ship (DamiJon) became popular in comics fandom. They bantered at first, then became best friends. As of February 2023, they are each other's most popular slash pairing on AO3. Damian is also commonly paired romantically with Marinette DuPain-Cheng, in crossovers with the animated TV show Miraculous Ladybug.

Other Relationships

As of March 2023 popularity on AO3, third to fifth romantic relationships:

Fan works


Meta

Fanfic

  • Kodokuna Shojo: A Lonely Girl by C.R. Scott, 30k. (2012-2013) (Ignores the DCnU reboot) A tale of two Robins wrapped up in an Asian-style horror story. Tim Drake goes to Japan for business, both for Wayne Enterprises and Batman Incorporated. However, when he returns to Gotham City, it's Damian Wayne who discovers he brought along more from his trip overseas than just his luggage and mission report.
  • Future AU (series) by ShariDeschain, 7k total. (2017-2020) Coming of age genre, re Damian reaching the cusp of adulthood and coping with the threat of Ra's al Ghul using his body as a vessel.

Fanart

Zines

Example Art Gallery

Online fan archives and communities

Archives

Communities on FFN:
  • Damian Wayne Community
  • Full Circle, a community for “stories involving the relationship between Dick Grayson, the original Robin, and Damian Wayne, the latest Robin.”

Tumblr

LJ Communities

Other

Resources

References

  1. ^ "[Character of the Month] Damian Wayne, by queenhippolytas : DCcomics". 2021-10-27. Archived from the original on 2021-10-27.
  2. ^ https://sapodilas-moved.tumblr.com/post/637781627984084992 (dead link)
  3. ^ "Damian 100% is reviled by so much of the authors and the fans for a variety of factors due to race and being an "unacceptable" survivor". {{cite web}}: Text "https://archive.ph/JoCxc" ignored (help)
  4. ^ "Re: how do fandom tropes compare to actual canon characterization for the robins". 03-25-2016. Archived from the original on 12-16-2022. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |archive-date= (help)
  5. ^ "Re What are in your opinion the biggest difference between". 07-03-2016. Archived from the original on 07-07-2016. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |archive-date= (help)
  6. ^ "Re: Have-you-ever-done-a-canon-vs-fanon-post..." 03-28-2019. Archived from the original on 12-22-2021. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |archive-date= (help)
  7. ^ "I just found out that the Spanish batfam community..." Archived from the original on 2022-08-29.
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