Bat-Man, the billionaire-turned-vigilante who rocked the foundations of Gotham City
from 1919-1939. He fought and won many battles throughout his crime-fighting career,
but not many know that he did not fight alone in his crusade. Bruce Wayne saw his parents murdered
at a young age. His parents, industrial titans in the business scene of Gotham, left the young boy
a massive fortune with him being left in the care of the family butler Alfred Pennyworth.
As Bruce grew into adulthood, specifically once he had returned home from his time abroad, he took
on the mantle of the Bat. During his formative years of crime-fighting, he worked alone, striking
fear into the hearts of criminals as an almost mythological creature of the night. All of that
changed after one fateful night. Haley's Circus, a renowned show throughout 1920s America, had
come to Gotham showcasing their treasured circus act: The Flying Graysons. This family of acrobats
flew through the air with great ease, awing many by their daring stunts without the use of a net.
The youngest Grayson, Dick, was an acrobatic prodigy. He always felt more at home in the air
than on the ground, and together with his parents, they were a tight-knit group. On this night,
Bruce had decided to attend one of their famous shows. Normally, the show went on flawlessly,
with the crowd on the edge of their seats. This night, however, something went horribly wrong.
A local gangster, when denied protection money by the ringleader of Haley's Circus,
sabotaged the trapeze. During the height of their act, the Grayson parents fell, dying in front of
the entire circus as well as their horror-struck son, Dick. Bruce witnessed this tragedy, also
horror-struck, and was brought back to the night many years ago when his parents died. He saw in
Dick a kindred spirit, someone who needed the same direction he had when the pain became too much. He
took Dick on as his ward, teaching him to channel his anger and training him in combat. Robin,
the Boy Wonder, appeared on the scene, helping the Bat-Man to bring his parents killer to justice.
The Dynamic Duo fought crime together for many years until eventually, once Dick had reached
adulthood, they had a falling out. Dick had seen too much in his time as a crime fighter in Gotham;
too many horrors, too much death. He felt stuck under the shadow of the Bat and struck out on
his own. Gone were the days of red, yellow, and green, and in their place was Nightwing,
a hero all his own. Nightwing became the protector of Bludhaven,
a neighboring city to Gotham, and remained an ally of the Bat for many years to come. We also
know that he was romantically involved with the Bat-Girl on and off for a number of years, though
we are unsure for how long. Dick's departure left a void in the Bat-Man's crime-fighting career.
Naturally, it didn't take long before another orphan in need came onto his radar.
For everything that Dick Grayson was, Jason Todd was the opposite. He was a street kid who had been
press-ganged into working for a crook named Jervis Tetch, or as he was known by his street name,
The Mad Hatter. The Mad Hatter ran a ring of pickpocketers,
mostly children who he forced to steal for him. The Bat-Man had been after Jervis for
months before he discovered an unruly teen trying to break into the Batmobile.
This was Jason Todd. The Bat-Man decided to take Jason on as his next ward in order to free him
from The Mad Hatter's grasp, and also because he was impressed by Jason's courageous attitude.
Together, the Bat-Man and his new Robin took down The Mad Hatter's child exploitation ring,
putting the madman behind bars. Bruce saw this as helping Jason channel his anger, as he had with
Dick, but what he didn't know was just to what depths the boy's anger wen. During his career as
the second Robin, Jason tended towards excessive force and seeking out trouble. This caused many
problems with police and criminals alike, and eventually it led to his untimely demise.
During an investigation involving the Joker, Jason struck out on his own seeking to defeat
the psychopath himself. Joker, the Clown Prince of Crime and one of the deadliest human beings to
walk the face of the earth, easily got the upper hand over the boy. Using a crowbar, Joker savagely
beat the boy again and again. The Bat-Man rushed to save his partner once he knew where he'd gone,
an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of Gotham, but by the time he arrived he was too late.
The warehouse contained nothing but blood and Robin's battered and torn uniform.
Bruce assumed the worst: Jason Todd was dead at the hands of the Joker,
and it was his fault. Many years later, a new criminal appeared on the scene in Gotham:
the Red Hood. He began to take over the criminal element in Gotham,
but this was short-lived once the Bat-Man and his allies discovered his true identity.
It was none other than Jason, returned from the grave. Ra's al Ghul, the leader of the League of
Assassins, had been keeping an eye on the boy for a while, intrigued by his rage. When the Joker had
left the boy for dead, Ra's took the boy to his monastery in Nanda Parbat, nursing him back to
health and training him through his childhood into his young adult years. Where Bruce had trained
Jason to keep his anger in check, the League trained him to unleash his anger on his enemies,
using lethal force if necessary. This made him even more uncontrollable and unpredictable.
The Bat-Man and his allies took Jason in as Bruce reasoned that he had maintained brain
damage from his brutal beating at the hands of the Joker. Eventually, Jason gave up his
murderous ways and joined the Bat-Family as an ally. During the years that Jason went missing,
presumed dead, the Bat-Man became a much darker force in Gotham.
His feeling of failure at Jason's death caused him to spiral deeper and deeper into solitude.
His vengefulness went to extraordinary depths in dealing with criminals. During this time,
a boy named Tim Drake began to study the Bat. He was an admirer of Sherlock Holmes novels and had
developed astute skills of observation, deduction, and forensic science. Tim was a prodigy, his mind
sharp as a knife. He used these skills to deduce that the Bat-Man's true identity was Bruce Wayne.
Tim approached the millionaire, confronting him and asking to be his new protege.
Bruce declined initially; Tim was much older than the other two Robins had been,
and it had been too soon since Jason's death. Bruce had vowed never to take on another ward.
Tim was not satisfied with this answer.
Basing his design off the costumes of the other Robins, he created his own uniform
using very durable materials; much more protective than the other outfits had been.
As the Bat-Man's vengefulness increased, so did his recklessness. During an investigation into
his former friend, Harvey Dent, now known as Two-Face by the criminal underworld of Gotham,
the Bat-Man found himself captured. Tim, now the new Robin, arrived on the scene,
freeing and helping the Bat-Man, and together they fought Two-Face and his gang, apprehending them.
Tim had earned Bruce's respect, becoming one of his most trusted allies.
The next person to don the mantle of Robin was an unexpected one. The daughter of Ra's al Ghul,
Talia, arrived on the doorstep of Wayne Manor one day. She had a child in tow with her, whom,
she claimed to Bruce, was his. During Bruce's years of training with the League of Assassins,
him and Talia had become romantically involved. Unbeknownst to him, she had conceived and given
birth to Damian, raising him in the League until he had reached 10 years of age.
Bruce could tell that she was not lying; the boy was clearly a Wayne in appearance,
even if he had the demeanor of his grandfather Ra's. Talia gave Damian the choice of whether
to return to Nanda Parbat with her, or to remain in Gotham with his father. The boy chose to stay
with Bruce. Bruce had to work to undo much of the conditioning the League had put the boy through.
Damian had a tendency to seek out violence and vengeance above all else, seeing no issue with
murdering criminals to achieve peace. He was by far the deadliest of the Bat-Man's proteges,
even if he was the youngest. Because Tim was Robin at the time of Damian's arrival, Tim stepped down
from the role, taking on his own mantle as Red Wing. This allowed Damian to step under the Bat's
wing and grow into a crimefighter not hell-bent on death and revenge, but on justice and hope.
Damian considered becoming the next Bat-Man to be his destiny,
wanting more than anything to take on the mantle of the Bat one day.
In conclusion, there have been many to take on the role of Robin to the Bat-Man, and it
has been a long, painful, yet hopeful history. But what became of each of these Boy Wonders?
Dick Grayson remained a crimefighter until he was enlisted to help lead a proto-CIA initiative known
as Task Force X. He died in the line of duty in 1943, while on a mission in France. He is
remembered and honored still as the protector of Bludhaven. No one knows definitively what happened
to Jason Todd. Some claim he returned back to Nanda Parbat to live out his days in peace,
while others claimed to see him all over the world, working to take down criminal cartels,
assassinating warlords. Tim used his mantle of Red Wing to fight the murderous new Bat-Man that
arose in Bruce's absence. He also took down the serial murderer, Victor Szars. Soon after that,
he stepped down from crimefighting and became an FBI agent, pioneering the fields of psychological
profiling and forensic investigation. He revolutionized detective work for law enforcement.
Damian remained as Robin until the Bat-Man's retirement. He then left Gotham to take his
rightful place as the leader of the League of Assassins. Ra's had passed away, and Damian
changed the cult's name to the League of Shadows, taking it in a new direction; one of stealth and
covertness. In the wake of World War II, he used the League to restore order in Europe, taking on
the persona of the Heretic, and vowing never to let another war of that magnitude take place.
Though the mantle of Robin belonged to many different people,
the ideals of the role remain the same. Robin was a force for good, a pioneer of hope and
justice. Robin was a light to counterbalance the Bat-Man's darkness. Robin defined the Bat-Man in
a number of ways, but above all, he was a friend to the Bat and to all the citizens of Gotham.