 When I first saw Damien Wayne, I was repulsed by this idea of Robin. Damien was a brat. He showed no respect for anyone, not Alfred, not Dick or Tim, and certainly not Bruce Wayne. But all of this hides Damien Wayne's true character, and it is one that has grown on me. To find out who Damien Wayne truly is is to look at the duality of the character and the conflicting blood that runs through his veins as son of Bruce Wayne and son of Talia Al Ghul. Damien Wayne, as stated, son of Bruce and Talia, has had several different depictions of the way he was conceived. But what is essential is that for Talia, Damien was an attempt to create the planet's greatest warrior by combining these two powerful lineages. Talia hadn't told Bruce of their child until the first day Damien and Bruce met. But even before then, Damien Wayne was groomed to become the next legendary assassin. Talia's son committed horrible acts as a mere child, stole cultural artifacts, destroyed families, killed people, slaughtered animals and creatures. Damien's innocence wasn't just lost, it was ripped away from him. A lot of Damien's youth with Talia not only is spent becoming a warrior, but also as we see in Tomassian Gleason's Batman Robin run, that it's also spent questioning the identity of the young Al Ghul's father. Talia would not let Damien know who his father was until he bested her in battle, and so for years Damien was left in the dark. During this time he had something to prove, he needed to become worthy enough to see his father, strong enough. And the bat is all Damien dreamed of. Being the biological son of Bruce Wayne comes with different expectations. I think it's fair to say for the other Robins that they had to measure up to Bruce, but not in the way that the true son does. The son has to be as smart, as cunning, as dedicated, and he has to be as strong. But strength is earned through hard work. The first impression that many got of Damien aside from his behavioral issues was of his strength. It didn't feel earned. He is shown not only beating Nightwing, one of the universe's elite hand-to-hand combatants, but taking on Deathstroke as well. It seemed like Damien had no real weaknesses, but his fighting ability would help to highlight his true weaknesses, which were internal. Damien becomes interesting when looking past what he can do. When you look at his motivation and his morals and in the way he interacted with this new foreign world, how he adapted to his new life and the rules that that role presented. Damien desperately wants to prove that he is worthy to Bruce, which explains his outbursts. It's what drives him to try and kill Tim and why he bickers with Dick, because he sees them as threats to his position as Bruce's son. He desperately wants to prove to Batman that he is useful and that he is strong, and so he even picks fights with the bad himself. He wants to show his father that not only is he worthy of being his heir, but he wants to be just like him. Damien just couldn't verbalize this. And as he's looked up to his father his entire life and only ever wanted to meet him, it only makes sense. And after seeing Batman in the streets of Gotham, he wants Bruce's restraint as well. The strict moral compass to combat his nature as a natural born killer, and that struggle between wanting to do good but needing to kill is what burdens him. But wanting good isn't something you're born with. It's something you come to desire, and with that enters Damien's own pursuit. He proves that he wants to do good by making a choice against what he has been taught his whole life, when he continues to be Robin. He chooses to be exactly like his father. However, Damien also came with new challenges for Batman, because this is Bruce tackling with the loss of his own parents again and learning for the fourth time how to be a parent. In the same Gleason and Tomasi Batman Robin run, Batman says that he wonders if Damien's instruction by him and everyone else can overcome his nature, alluding to the philosophy and psychology debate of nature versus nurture. Again, Damien is a natural born killer fighting against the teachings of the Bat family. But the issue is that Batman himself isn't the greatest at giving Damien what he needs. Love, care, reassurance and approval. Damien needs to know that Bruce won't give up on him and that he's trying. The young Wayne needs the polar opposite of Talia's toxic and cold-hearted parenting. Again, he spent his whole life disregarding the lives of others, and now Bruce is suddenly asking him to show restraint, to care for others and even to save lives. And in all of these depictions Damien is about 10 years old. He is so young. And I overlooked that about him. I wanted Damien to be just like Dick and Tim. I wanted him to be kind, compliant and compassionate from the get-go without thinking of the years Damien spent being molded into a weapon, killing his own ninjas as if they were expendable, learning to be emotionless and cold and that's even in the way he speaks. Damien speaks so formally, calls everyone by their last name and that reminds us that some aspects of his nature will never change. But Damien has proved that his heart can. To go back it's not easy for Bruce to tell Damien that he's proud of him or that he loves him, because that has never been Bruce's way of showing affection. And I say this to show the way Dick and Alfred feel that role perfectly, especially Dick who donned the cape and cowl to be Damien's partner when Batman had briefly quote-unquote died. Dick was the perfect partner to Damien, because sometimes Damien needed a brother instead of a father and the two quickly became one of my favorite pairings. More than that, warmth, words of encouragement and affection are easy for Dick. He can be a calming presence when Damien gets worked up and that's exactly what Damien needs, even though sometimes he doesn't know how to react to it or how to accept it. Damien is a 10 year old kid first and foremost, who needs to know that he is loved, that he is worthy and that he is strong. Because yes, he is a kid, but he is also Talia's kid, who has failed to love him in the way that he needs, the same Talia who has shunned him to his face. And in the end after Dick and Alfred's warmth, Bruce also warms up to his son, taking the time to be a true father to Damien. Damien at 10 years old, one of the biggest issues he's had is one of identity. He doesn't quite know who he is or what he is. That is the very blood that runs through his veins and has always been at odds with each other. And while Damien never made the choice to leave the League of Assassins and to join Bruce, Damien did make the choice to stay, to learn from Dick and to learn from Bruce. Alfred tells him that this choice is what has defined him. Over the different runs of Batman and Robin, the question of who Damien Wayne is has always come up. To me, Damien Wayne is defined by his strength to want to follow a path of moral rigidity, a path that requires him to not kill regardless of him being raised to do just that. And in Batman Incorporated, the once selfish Damien sacrificed his life for another person. And more so, Damien is defined by his ability to recognize the wrong that he had done. The son of Batman run by Patrick Gleason was about Damien in his search for redemption. Damien has done terrible, terrible things, and while he might have been a child, it doesn't erase the damage that he'd done. And these deeds were weighing down on Damien's mind at every moment of the day. And so Damien aimed to atone as best he could for every single one. The culture he hurt and even the individuals affected. That Damien to me showed exactly who he is. While he struggles with the darkness inside him, just like Bruce does, he finds a way to overcome it, to be better. Damien has become a good kid with the potential for greatness as the most skilled Robin. Through Damien's choice and through his path, all of these stories show Damien that he is not bound to his blood and that he always has a choice. And with that, these stories also showed a kid that was human, regardless of his upbringing as an assassin. A kid who needs to be loved and encouraged. Damien is a kid who loves animals and creatures, as shown with his many animal companions. Damien is a kid who cares and who is fiercely loyal to those he loves, and he loves really hard. He's shown that to Dick, Bruce, John Kent and the Super Sons, to Maya and the son of Batman, to Alfred and even to his mother. Damien Wayne is just as much Robin as everyone who donned the yellow cape and domino mask. To everyone who was worn that R. Damien Wayne is worthy enough to be Batman's true son.