Batman Reveals the Heartbreaking Reason He Doesn’t Trust His Son
Warning! Spoilers for Robin #1 ahead!
Though Batman can often be considered a loner, his true greatest strength is his connection to the Batman family. Despite this, Batman still keeps many of his allies at arm's length—including his own son. Bruce's relationship with Damian over the years has proven to be rocky at best, but in the most recent issue of Robin, the Dark Knight plainly reveals exactly why he doesn't always trust the Boy Wonder. The sad truth is that Batman sees too much of himself in Damian and the burden of this haunts him.
The extreme similarities between Batman and his son have often led towards tension between the two. In fact, Batman's guidance was necessary to help Damian avoid repeating his mistakes or even becoming something worse. Still, it was only after Bruce died that Damian was able to begin his path towards heroism, as the intervention of Dick Grayson proved to be Damian's saving grace. As Damian became Robin and fought alongside Dick's Batman, he shed some of his father's baggage and formed his own identity. Much like Dick had balanced out Bruce's anger and sadness, he was able to do so with Damian. However, when Bruce returned, it was only a matter of time before him and Damian would butt heads again.
In Robin #1 by writer Joshua Williamson and artist Gleb Melnikov, Damian Wayne leaves behind Gotham City to take part in a tournament against DC's greatest fighters. Unfortunately, Damian hasn't told rest of the Bat-family where he would be going, leading Batman to search for his son. With nobody by his side, Batman is left with no choice but to reflect on what has led him there. While soaring through the night sky of Gotham, Bruce remembers meeting Damian and looking into his eyes for the first time. "I could see it in his eyes the moment we met," he thinks. "It was like looking in a mirror." Batman goes on to realize that beyond Damian's obvious entitlement, his son never saw how he himself had struggled to become a hero. Damian only saw Batman as a success, and never understood his journey to get there. Batman realizes that this prevented them from connecting and only further fueled Damian's anger towards him.
Damian has been burdened with pain throughout his life, much like Bruce. Where Batman was traumatized by the murder of his parents and the pain that grew from that wound, Damian felt abandoned by his mother, Talia al Ghul, who had used him as a pawn for her own needs. For a time, Batman was able to harness Damian's pain for good and he helped him mature. Unfortunately, this also fed into Damian's ego, as his sense of entitlement paired with his newfound confidence to bring him into fights that were bigger than he could handle. During the "City of Bane," Robin thought he could step in for his father and took on Bane, which indirectly resulted in the death of Alfred. Though Damian recently was able to gain a sense of revenge for this tragedy, it created a tension that Batman and Robin struggled to work past
Damian Wayne is a character destined to carry the baggage of his father's life of heroism and his mother's life of villainy. As a young man who has known little more than pain, he echoes the darkness that Batman himself was never able to escape. That being said, it is possible that with Batman's help, there is hope that Robin can break the cycle of trauma that has haunted the Wayne family for decades.