By Phil Perich for Before the Bat: The Gotham Podcast

It’s been awhile since I’ve discussed a character from the comics that hasn’t appeared on the Gotham show. Let’s continue the Robin series! The 4th Robin is the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul, one of the daughters of Batman enemy Ra’s al Ghul (see last week’s blog post). Damian first appears as an infant in the story Batman: Son of the Demon (1987). Batman believes Talia to have had a miscarriage at the end of this story. The ending makes it appear that Talia gives the baby up for adoption but we know this is not the case by Batman #655 (September 2006), part one of the “Batman and Son” story arc.

Batman learns that Talia has had Damian genetically altered and trained by some of the world’s deadliest assassins to make him a formidable warrior. Batman meets his son for the first time when his son is 10 years old. Talia leaves Damian with Batman, hoping to disrupt Batman’s life and mission. Batman brings the boy home hoping for the best, best Damian initially does not get along with the rest of the “family”, especially then Robin Tim Drake who Damian sees as trying to steal his father’s love, attention, and wealth.

onths later, Ra’s al Ghul, who had died a few years earlier, was resurrected by his followers, who had tried to use Damian as a host for Ra’s spirit. Batman saves his son from a fate worse than death. Damian leaves once again with his mother, but returns when Bruce Wayne comes under siege by the Black Glove in the Batman R.I.P. storyline where he helps Alfred search for the missing Bruce. But weeks later when Bruce Wayne is lost in time and presumed dead, Damian becomes the new Robin to Dick Grayson’s (Nightwing) Batman.

Damian differed from the Robins that came before him. A 10 year old who had been trained by assassins had to learn how to subdue enemies without killing them. Damian still had an uneasy relationship with his adopted “brother” Tim Drake (Robin #3), who by this point had become Red Robin.

Damian grew into his role as Robin so that months later, upon Bruce Wayne’s return, he found a full partner in the son he had never really known before.

The 2 have their ups and downs but come together as a well oiled machine until Talia reenters the picture. Damian is killed by an adult clone of himself, created by his mother.

Ra’s al Ghul steals Damian’s body, hoping to resurrect him in a lazarus pit. Batman arrives in time to stop Ra’s, but Glorious Godfrey, a minion of the other dimensional menace Darkseid, takes Damian and his coffin. Ra’s had hid the chaos shard in the coffin. The chaos shard was once a power source/weapon of Darkseid’s. For anyone who read the latest issue of Batman & Robin (#37), you know that Batman escapes Darkseid with Damian and the chaos shard, which he uses to resurrect Damian. Internet spoilers reveal that Damian isn’t just alive, but he will have super powers of some sort.