Assassin's Den Musings: The Problem with Batman

Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to the Assassin's Den!

I know, I know, this is unusual; I've never talked about comics books on this blog.  However, it does link into something I am interested in; video games.  I was watching some youtube videos on the Injustice series; I watched the entire stories of Injustice 1 and Injustice 2, and I saw the focus on Batman and the Bat-family and all that came with it, and I realized something; Bruce Wayne is still Batman.

Hear me out on this; over the years, there have been 5 people who became Robin; Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake,Stephanie Brown and Damien Wayne.  There have been 4 women to become Batgirl; Barbara Gordon, Helena Bertinelli, Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown.  And there 3 men to be Batman; Bruce Wayne, Jean-Paul Valley and Dick Grayson.

Now, here's my problem; most of them went on to become something else. Dick Grayson became Nightwing, Jason Todd became Red Hood, Tim Drake became Red Robin, Stephanie Brown became Batgirl after her stint as Robin, Barbara Gordon became the paraplegic heroine Oracle, Cassandra Cain became Black Bat, Helena Bertinelli went back to being Huntress, Jean-Paul Valley went back to being Azrael.  But Bruce Wayne? He's the only constant Batman.  Both Jean-Paul Valley and Dick Grayson have given the cowl back to him.  The only time we ever see someone take up, and keep up, the cowl is in the DCAU series "Batman Beyond", where Bruce Wayne is a very old man, and cannot physically be Batman anymore.

Now, I don't have a problem with that. Bruce Wayne is the iconic Batman.  When you go see a movie or buy a bluray of Batman, you're expecting Bruce Wayne.  And the comics have to utilize the characters that are in the movies.  I get that, and I support that.

But that makes me think about Bruce Wayne's age; Dick Grayson, Jason Todd AND Tim Drake are all grown men.  Granted, Tim Drake is the youngest around 18-20 (depending on how much time passes in the comics), but Dick Grayson is at least in his late 20s.  Bruce Wayne was 25 when he started as Batman, and adopted Dick Grayson at 26.  Based on his age, he's running out of time to be Batman.  Injuries are eventually going to catch up with his age in time.

I know, I know, it's a comic book.  He won't be retiring, because DC wants to continue to sell books.  And there's weirder stuff that happens in comic books anyway, so of course, Bruce Wayne remains ageless.   But there was actually a very good story that shows Bruce Wayne aging; 1999's "Superman and Batman Generations", which starts in 1939 and shows Bruce Wayne passing on the cowl to Dick Grayson in the 60s, who is then forced to pass on the cowl himself to Bruce Wayne Jr in 1969 due to him being killed by the Joker (reminiscent of Jason Todd's death in 1988), only to take back the mantel of the Batman in 1999 after beating Ra's al Ghul in a battle in the Lazerus Pit. (Yes, it was as weird as it sounds, but it's comics, so whatever.")

Which brings me to the point of this post; I want to see Dick Grayson become Batman and stay Batman.  He's done the job twice, and did it very well both times, both after Jean-Paul Valley was stripped of the cowl at the end of the Knightfall arc, and again after Bruce Wayne's "death".  If DC gave a Dick Grayson Batman an ongoing Elseworlds series (DC's "What if" line), I'd buy it.  Dick Grayson put in the time, put in the effort, did everything he could to earn the cowl.  If anyone deserves to be Batman other than Bruce Wayne, it's Dick Grayson.

But I know it won't happen; Bruce Wayne's the iconic character; to the world, he IS the Batman, and he always will be.  In fact, to people outside the Batman fandom, they don't know that Dick Grayson's been anything but Robin.  They don't know about Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown or Damien Wayne.  So, yeah, I get it when DC just follows the money.  But still, I'd really love to see a series where Dick Grayson gets to become, and stay, Batman.

If I get any kind of response to this, I'll do a "The Problem with" other characters, like Superman and Spider-Man, but for now, stay beautiful freaks!