When Robin to the life of a vigilante, it was clear from the start that he was training his eventual replacement–someone who could continue on Batman’s mission to protect Gotham City from crime and villainy. However, in one of their earliest adventures, Batman reveals that while he does want Robin to take over for him as Gotham’s prime protector, he doesn’t want his young ward to do so as Batman.
Batman’s first Robin, Dick Grayson, made his first appearance as Batman’s trusty sidekick in Detective Comics #38 by Bill Finger, Jerry Robinson, and Bob Kane. The issue reveals how Dick’s family–the circus performers known as ‘The Flying Graysons’–were murdered because they didn’t succumb to participating in organized crime in Gotham. After losing everyone he loved, Dick Grayson was taken in by Bruce Wayne who told Dick about his alter ego, Batman, and indoctrinated him into the vigilante lifestyle–turning Dick Grayson into Robin, the Boy Wonder.
In Batman #101 by Edmond Hamilton and Sheldon Moldoff, Batman has gone missing and Robin is forced to step up as the only hero left in Gotham with the skills and the drive to take down any criminal element that might have tried to rise up in Batman’s absence. While many criminals laughed at the Boy Wonder’s efforts to take them down, they quickly learned that Robin was a force to be reckoned with in his own right–a hero who proved himself worthy of taking the title as Gotham’s main hero.
When the Caped Crusader went missing and Robin stepped up to take Batman's place, he didn’t do so as Batman as some might expect. Even though Batman was only out of the scene for a short period, Robin and Gotham completely shifted focus away from the symbol of fear Batman worked so hard to instill in his enemies. Rather than the bat-signal, the GD used a new Robin-signal which shined his logo in the night sky instead of the iconic, fear-inducing bat. Plus, Robin himself started using his own branded vehicles including the Robin-mobile and the Robin-plane. This shift in focus from Batman to Robin on every level suggests that Batman always planned on Robin remaining Robin when Bruce Wayne is done being Batman rather than taking up the mantle of Batman himself with all of the accessories required to completely fill that role.
While Batman’s sidekick but become the natural evolution of heroism in Gotham City.
