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Damian Wayne is a fictional character in the DC Comics Universe. Damian is the child of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul and thus the grandson of Batman villain Ra's al Ghul. The character was created by Grant Morrison, and first appeared in Batman #655 (2006), the first issue of the Batman & Son story arc . Morisson's Batman #666 (2007) depicts a future wherein Damian has become Batman.

Having spent his gestation in a laboratory, Damian was raised by his mother until ten years of age, at which point she left him in the care of his father, who was not aware of his son's existence until that point in time. Damian is violent and self-important, and was trained by the League of Assasins, learning to kill at a young age. After the events of Batman R.I.P. and Batman: Battle for the Cowl, Damian has taken up the identity of Robin (having saved the life of his predecessor Tim Drake), becoming the fifth person to use the identity. He works with Dick Grayson, who has become the new Batman.

The concept of Bruce and Talia having a son first appeared in the 1987 graphic novel Son of the Demon.

Publication history

Fictional character biography

Batman & Son

Damian's origin is unknown to Batman. Genetically perfected and grown in an artificial womb, Damian was intended to be a formidable warrior. He is raised by Talia and the League of Assassins. He becomes a talented martial artist by the time he is a pre-teen, at which time Talia reveals Damian's existence to Bruce Wayne and leaves him in Batman's custody in an effort to disrupt Batman's work.

Precocious, spoiled, and violent, Damian battles Robin (Tim Drake), whom he wants to replace as Wayne's sidekick, and sucker punches Drake off the stuffed Tyrannosaurus in the Batcave when Tim stops fighting to help him. Grounded by Batman, Damian escapes, dons a variant Robin costume made of Jason Todd's old tunic and assorted League of Assassin gear, and gets into a fight with and decapitates the villainous Spook. Although misguided and malicious, Damian seems to genuinely want to aid Wayne's war on crime as he sees himself as Wayne's son and wants Wayne's approval.

Eventually, Batman confronts Talia to confirm Damian's true identity, but both Talia and Damian are soon caught in an explosion. They survive the explosion, but a badly injured Damian requires transplants of harvested organs, which his mother orders her physicians to carry out. Damian makes a full recovery.

The Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul

In Batman Annual: Head of the Demon, Talia takes Damian to the Australian Outback, where he is tutored in the secret history of his grandfather, Ra's al Ghul. Talia is unaware that a former servant of Ra's, named White Ghost, plans to use Damian as a shell for the soul of Ra's to return to Earth. This process would, of course, kill Damian. Talia is able to save her son from his fate at the last minute.

Ra's is still able to return, but as a rotting, shambling undead corpse, still needing Damian to stabilize his form. Damian flees to alert Batman, but is pursued by his evil grandfather. Upon entering Wayne Manor, Damian attempts to relay to Robin the fact that Ra's has returned. Robin, suspicious of Damian's intentions, does not believe his story and begins a fist fight. Damian flees and encounters Alfred. Before he can effectively relay his news, he is attacked by Robin, who perceives Damian's attempt to help a tripping Alfred as an attack, and renews their battle. As they fight, members of the League of Assassins approach the manor with the intention of killing all others within and bringing Damian back to Ra's alive. Damian and Robin (Tim) fight side-by-side against Ra's and his minions. Their collaboration is hindered by their very different philosophies of battle. Damian is willing to betray Tim at any moment for his own safety. Ra's captures the two and tells Batman that he will use one of them for his own body. Batman offers his own body instead.

Ra's refuses the offer, feeling that he needs someone of a younger age. The choices are Robin or Damian. Batman offers a third alternative: "Fountain of Essence," which contains the qualities of a Lazarus Pit. Batman and Ra's go in search of the fountain, leaving Tim, Damian, Nightwing, Alfred, and Talia to battle the Sensei. Damian leaves his mother and Tim to an unknown fate, while he goes off to be with his father. He ends up captured by Ra's and nearly loses his life. Batman and the others manage to save him, and Talia takes her son and escapes.

A subsequent conversation between Robin and Alfred implies that Batman has carried out a DNA test on Damian. Alfred says Bruce intended to tell him the results when the time was right. At this, Tim realises that Damian is indeed Bruce's son, and exclaims "The son of the Devil is my brother?"

Batman R.I.P.

Prior to the start of Grant Morrison's "Batman R.I.P." story arc in Batman #675, Damian has sensed that someone is out to get Batman. In response to this, Talia begins to formulate a plan. That plan seems to involve getting the help of Commissioner James Gordon, who Talia and Damian rescue from a booby-trapped Wayne Manor, while in search of Batman, who has gone insane and missing.

Damian and Alfred race to aid Batman against the Black Glove in a commandeered Batmobile and Damian who is driving, knocks an ambulance off a bridge without any sign of remorse or even concern. When Alfred reprimands him, Damian retorts with a backhanded threat. Thankfully, the only occupant of the ambulance was the Joker.

Battle for the Cowl

In "Nightwing" #153 (2009), Damian is shown being trained by Dick Grayson.

Upon the start of Batman: Battle for the Cowl, it appears that Damian is now residing in Gotham, and living under the command of Nightwing (to an extent). Where before Damian portrayed an arrogant and vicious personality, it appears the loss of his father has regressed him to a more child-like mindset, as demonstrated when he takes the Batmobile joy-riding with an older girl. This is discovered by Oracle, who ejects the girl and takes control of the Batmobile, intent on taking Damian home. Unfortunately, the car is sidetracked by Killer Croc and Poison Ivy, who prepare to kill Damian. Damian is saved by Nightwing who ends up being cornered by Black Mask's men, until a murderous Batman appears stating that he is Batman (this is later revealed to be Jason Todd). Although shot by Todd, Damian recovers, and saves Tim Drake from falling to death inside Jason's Batcave. When Nightwing becomes the newest Batman, Damian takes over the mantle of Robin by Dick Grayson's side.

Batman: Reborn

With Dick Grayson taking over the mantle of Batman, Damian is now active as Robin. Despite working as Grayson's sidekick, he expresses a strong willingness to take over the Batman identity himself if Dick is not "up to it." Damian has no respect for Grayson, and tells him that he needs to earn it if he wants his respect.

It is revealed that Damian has begun to visit his father's former friend and enemy Thomas Elliot, also known as Hush, in the prison at the top of Wayne Tower Dick and Tim put him in, and engages him in chess games. Damian claims that these visits are out of his curiosity for why Hush would alter his appearance to that of Bruce Wayne's. But Hush suspects that the visits are rather Damian's form of grieving for Bruce and a way to "spend time with your old man."

It is revealed that Grayson chose Damian to be his Robin instead of Tim Drake because he sees Tim as an equal, not a sidekick, and thinks that Damian needs guidance and a constant eye watching him, or else he will kill again. Either way, Damian mocks Tim for no longer being a part of the Dynamic Duo, even going so far as to offer him the Batgirl position. This causes Tim to snap, taking on the mantle of Red Robin and searching the globe for Bruce Wayne, who Tim believes is still alive. After his first fight together with Dick, Damian gets upset with Grayson and goes looking for the villain Professor Pyg himself. The Professor captures him.

Blackest Night

After Bruce's skull was taken from his grave, Damian and Dick decide to bring the rest of his skeleton, along with those of Damian's grandparents, to the their base beneath Wayne Tower. Damian is quite shaken by the sight of the bones of his family. On the way to the cave, Dick's body is possessed by Deadman, whom Damian lashes out at in confusion. Deadman then possesses and leaves Damian's body, subsequently passing his knowledge of the attack of the Black Lanterns onto him. The three heroes then prepare for the Black Lantern's assault on Gotham.

Possible future

Batman #666 (2007) features an adult Damian Wayne as Batman. He takes on the mantle after he is unable to save Batman from being killed. This Batman is darker than his father, more willing to injure and kill opponents if he judges it necessary to do so. He also has a pet cat he calls Alfred. He seems to have developed a rivalry with Commissioner Barbara Gordon (who strongly condemns his actions, claiming that he killed someone close to her) and possesses some form of supernatural ability; most visibly, the ability to heal catastrophic wounds in moments. It is implied that, in this possible future, Damian made a literal deal with the Devil: his soul in exchange for the immortality and healing abilities he felt he needed to protect Gotham.

Other versions

Morrison's Damian is the first canonical appearance of the Batman-Talia son presented in Son of the Demon, but DC Comics has made other uses of the individual:

• In Kingdom Come (1996) by Mark Waid and Alex Ross, the child of Batman and Talia is Ibn al Xu'ffasch, literally "Son of the Bat", a member of Lex Luthor's inner circle. He falls in love with Nightstar, the daughter of Dick Grayson and Starfire. There is some suggestion that he is Batman's spy in Luthor's camp. al Xu'ffasch reappears in Waid's The Kingdom.
• In a Batman Annual story, "Tales of Dead Earth", Batman and Talia's son is known as Talon.
• In the Elseworlds story, The Brotherhood of the Bat, and its sequel The League of Batmen, a variation named Tallant appears who crusades against his grandfather, Ra's al Ghul.

References

1. Phillips, Dan (august 8, 2009). "Grant Morrison's New Batman and Robin". IGN. Retrieved August 8, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
2. Batman 666. Page 2.
3. Grant Morrison. Batman #676
4. Batman and Robin #2
5. Batman #665
6. Grant Morrison. Batman #676
7. Batman: Battle for the Cowl #1 (2009)
8. Batman: Battle for the Cowl #2 (2009)
9. Batman: Battle for the Cowl #3 (2009)
10. Blackest Night: Batman #1 (August 2009)
11. Kingdom Come #3 Annotations

External links

• Damian Wayne at DC Comics Database

• DC Comics characters
• 2006 comics characters debuts
• DC Comics martial artists
• Fictional murderers
• Comic book sidekicks
• DC Comics superheroes
• Fictional vigilantes