Warning! Spoilers for Batman and Robin #20!The Damian Wayne is coming to with in his own way. After nearly two decades in the role, Damian has officially rejected his legacy, as he boldly states that he is not Robin and that he has his own plans to move into a new role in Gotham City.
Batman and Robin have been struggling in their partnership lately, with Damian believing that Gotham City may have been better off without Batman. With Damian questioning the role of Robin and Batman in Gotham, it seems that Damian has finally decided to step away from the mantle he has held for the last nineteen years.
As seen in Batman and Robin #20 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and a roster of unique artists, Damian Wayne has officially renounced the role of Robin. He's fully intent on taking after his grandfather, Thomas Wayne. Instead of being a vigilante who fights crime at night, Damian intends to become a doctor.
Damian Wayne Officially Rejects the Robin Mantle Because He Is Tired of Hurting People
Batman and Robin #20 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Hugo Petrus, Miguel Mendonca, Juni Ba, Marcelo Maiolo, and Steve Wands
Batman and Robin have been fighting crime in Gotham City for a very long time. It's an unfortunate reality of the situation that some villainous people need to be stopped by force. Every day, Batman and Robin go out and use exactly the right amount of brutality to stop violent criminals from hurting innocent people. While this is certainly a necessity of the job, it has obviously been weighing on Damian for a while, and it's finally reached the point where Damian wants to try and save Gotham differently.
Robin's Darkest Redesign Reveals the Villain He'd Become After Rejecting Batman
The Dark Multiverse showed many horrors, but none so compelling as a Damian Wayne who killed his father and became his grandfather's true legacy.
Damian Wayne was born to be a killer. He was trained by the League of Assassins to one day rule the world and to kill anyone who got in his way of achieving that goal. Since he was ten years old, Damian has been a brutal killer, and it took a lot of work for him to move past that origin, to try and find redemption. While Damian has ultimately proven himself a hero, he hasn't managed to escape his violent nature. While siding with his father against his maternal grandfather, Ra's al Gul, was certainly a step in the right direction, he was just trading one legacy of violence for another.
Damian Wayne Doesn't Want to Be Robin, But He Still Wants to Save Gotham City
But He Has to Do It in His Own Way
Both sides of Damian's family have always traded in violence. The al Ghuls lead one of the most deadly organizations on the planet and have been trying to cause a mass genocide for decades. Batman has been waging a personal war on crime using nothing but his money and his fists. While both families rely on violence for very different reasons, the fact remains that they've both built a legacy off of hurting people. After the childhood that Damian went through, it makes perfect sense that he has become disillusioned with the idea of saving people through pain.
Damian has renounced the legacy of both of his immediate families so that he might become a doctor and be able to heal the people of Gotham City without the use of force.
That's why Damian's choice to step away from Robin right now makes such perfect sense. Instead of following the legacy of his father or his grandfather, Damian has chosen to follow in the footsteps of his other grandfather. Damian has renounced the legacy of both of his immediate families so that he might become a doctor and be able to heal the people of Gotham City without the use of force. While every Robin before him has stepped away from the mantle, Damian Wayne might just be the first Robin to step away from vigilante life entirely.
Batman and Robin #20 is available now from DC Comics.
