WARNING: The following article contains spoilers from Robin #12, on sale now from DC Comics.
To call Damian Wayne a complicated young man would be an understatement. There are few characters within the DC Universe as divided in their beliefs as the young Robin. His upbringing as the heir to both Ra’s al Ghul and Batman’s legacies have given him conflicting morals that he has had difficulties navigating. This has caused him more pain than he has previously admitted, and in Robin #12 (by Joshua Williamson, Roger Cruz, Norm Rapmund, Luis Guerrero, ALW’s Troy Peteri) Damian announced that because of the trauma inflicted on him by both of his parents, he would never start a family of his own. It’s a heartbreaking reveal for someone so young to make such a statement, but it drives home how damaging his upbringing has been.
Damian is currently wrestling with anger and grief after having deliberately given up his chance to revive Alfred Pennyworth. Though it was the right choice, he was still understandably distraught at having lost the opportunity to correct what he perceives as a mistake. The situation was complicated by the arrival of his mother, Talia, who he believed had come to challenge and test him.
Damian took the opportunity to condemn her for the way she raised him. However, this was not the only thing he needed to vent about. Both Batman and Talia’s parenting skills leave much to be desired, and although Damian undoubtedly loves both his father and mother he is not naive enough to believe that either were truly suited to be parents.
The way Talia raised Damian left him with a serious lack of social skills that still affects him and makes it difficult him to establish real connections. Adding to this was the abusive she way she trained him during the first ten years of his life, turning him into a lethal fighter and almost completely obliterating the part of himself that could distinguish right from wrong. The ultimate blow came when Talia’s actions led to her son’s death after he choose to follow his father’s path instead of hers.
Compared to Talia, Batman was the better parent although his parenting style was still far from perfect. Although Bruce Wayne has attempted to demonstrate his love for his son, the fact remains that he is a terribly unstable parental figure. His choices have indirectly hurt Damian in many ways, and the younger Wayne has difficulty understanding his father’s insistence on not using lethal force against his enemies. Worst of all, Batman’s decisions led to Damian being forced to watch Alfred die, an event that still has a lingering traumatic effect on the young Robin.
In the face of all that, it’s no surprise that Damian refuses to start a family of his own. He feels that both sides of his family are irreversibly damaged, and he is intent on not bringing another child into the madness of their dysfunction. The thing that makes it worse is that he isn’t entirely wrong to think this way. Early traumas have a way of manifesting later in life and could be unintentionally passed down to children in different ways. Damian’s feelings about the matter are heartbreaking (especially considering his young age), but are also noble in their own way.
Still, the possibility exists that Damian might change his mind. He’s made efforts to find his own path lately, and has managed to forge connections with others. Perhaps there still exists a future in which Damian can have a family of his own without having to fear his children being scarred by the mistakes of their grandparents.
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