When I first saw Damion Wayne, I was repulsed by this idea of Robin. Damion 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 Damion Wayne's true character, and it is one that has grown on me. To find out who Damion 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 are cool. Damion 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, Damion 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 Damion and Bruce met. But even before then, Damion 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. Damion's innocence wasn't just lost, it was ripped away from him. A lot of Damion's youth with Talia not only is spent becoming a warrior, but also as we see in Tomasi and Gleason's Batman Robin run, that it's also spent questioning the identity of the young algal's father. Talia would not let Damion know who his father was until he bested her in battle, and so for years Damion 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 Damion 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 Damion 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 Damion had no real weaknesses, but his fighting ability would help to highlight his true weaknesses, which were internal. Damion becomes interesting when looking past what he can do. When you look at his motivation and morals, and in the way he interacted with this new fore and world, how he adapted to his new life and the rules that that role presented. Damion desperately wants to prove that he is worthy to Bruce, which explains his outbursts. It would drive 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 bat 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. Damion just couldn't verbalize this. And as he is 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 Damion'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 Robert. He chooses to be exactly like his father. However, Damion 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 gleece and entomassy Batman and Robin run, Batman says that he wonders if Damion's instruction by him and everyone else can overcome his nature. But looting to the philosophy and psychology debate of nature versus nurture, again Damion is a natural born killer, fighting against the teachings of the bad family. But the issue is that Batman himself isn't the greatest at giving Damion what he needs. Love, care, reassurance, and approval. Damion 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, Damion is about 10 years old. He is so young, and I overlooked that about him. I wanted Damion 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 Damion spent being molded into a weapon, killing his own ninjas as if they were expendable. Trying to be emotionless and cold, and that's even in the way he speaks. Damion speaks so formally, calls everyone by their last name, and that reminds us that some aspects of his nature will never change. But Damion has proved that his heart can. To go back, it's not easy for Bruce to tell Damion that he's proud of him or that he loves him, because that has never been Bruce's way of showing affection. When I say this to show the way Dick and Alfred fill that role perfectly, especially Dick who donned the cape in cowl to be Damion's partner when Batman had briefly quote unquote died. Dick was the perfect partner to Damion, because sometimes Damion 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 Damion gets worked up, and that's exactly what Damion needs, even though sometimes he doesn't know how to react to it or how to accept it. Damion 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 Damion. Damion 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 Damion never made the choice to leave the league of assassins and to join Bruce, Damion 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 Damion Wayne is has always come up. To me, Damion Wayne is defined by his strength to want to follow a path of moral rigidity. The path that requires him to not kill regardless of him being raised to do just that. And in Batman incorporated, the once selfish Damion sacrifices life for another person. But more so, Damion is defined by his ability to recognize the wrong that he had done. The son of Batman run by Patrick Gleason was about Damion in his search for redemption. Damion has done terrible, terrible things, and while he might have been a child, it doesn't erase the damage that he had done. And these deeds were weighing down on Damion's mind at every moment of the day. And so Damion aimed to atone as best he could for every single one, every culture he had and even the individuals affected. That Damion 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. Damion has become a good kid with the potential for greatness as the most skilled Robin. Through Damion's choice and through his path, all of these stories showed Damion 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. Damion is a kid who loves animals and creatures, as shown with his many animal companions. Damion 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 Suns, to Maya and the son of Batman to Alfred and even to his mother. Damion Wayne is just as much Robin as everyone who don the yellow cape and domino mask. To everyone who's worn that are. Damion Wayne is worthy enough to be Batman's true son.