I was the perfect child. Batman just wasn't fit to be my father. Damian Wayne
Damian Wayne is the son of Batman and the League of Assassins member Talia al Ghul. He has worked alongside and against his father as both Robin and, later, Nightwing.
History
Before Metropolis
Damian was born without his father's knowledge and trained with the League of Assassins until he was a young teenager. After his training was completed, Damian was finally revealed to his father, who accepted him as his newest Robin, hoping to put the child's training with the League to a better use.
Year One
When the Joker used Scarecrow's Fear Toxin to trick Superman into killing Lois Lane and blowing up Metropolis, the Kryptonian took revenge on the clown by killing him and initiating a new world order to eliminate all crime.[1]
When Batman and Nightwing learn of Superman's plan to abduct the criminals in Batman's Rogues Gallery, Damian is left behind in the Batcave as the two depart to stop the remainder of the Justice League.
To their surprise, Damian had informed Superman's party beforehand and had the group arrive in before Batman and Nightwing. The two sides then work together when Harley releases the prisoners and starts a prison riot. During the riot, Damian is grabbed by the head by Solomon Grundy, but he is freed by Superman before Batman and Nightwing arrive to help Damian back up.
As the riot wears on, Dick notices Damian excessively beating up the villains and scolds him for it, but Damian responds by throwing one of his eskrima sticks at Dick. While Dick normally dodges these tricks at practice, he is distracted by the fighting and is hit straight on. This causes Dick to stumble over some rumble, which leads to him falling and breaking his neck on one of the debris. Shocked and in tears, Damian attempts to apologize but is immediately shoved away as Batman departs from Arkham, claiming to have lost his son.
Dick's death solidifies Bruce and Damian's respective stances and they get into an argument in the Batcave with regards to this. Eventually, Hawkgirl arrives to fetch Damian only for him to sense something amiss. Damian then throws his incendiary bombs at "Hawkgirl" forcing Batman and the disguised Martian Manhunter to escape. Damian later reports this act of deception and Hawkgirl's disappearance to Superman. By the time a crippled Bruce escapes to the Tower of Fate, Damian accompanies Superman in setting up the One-Earth Government.
Damian's initial reaction to the catastrophe of Metropolis was slightly altered in the future.
Batman, furious that Superman had decided to turn down such a dark path, began to oppose his new rule, with Damian questioning his father's philosophy on combating crime. When the dynamic duo arrived at Arkham Asylum to protect its prisoners from Superman's might, Robin betrayed his Batman, slitting Victor Zsasz's throat and siding with Superman's new order. The father and son fought, the former defeating the latter, but Superman escaped with Robin to set up his new regime.[2]
Year Two
Damian makes two minor appearances: once to alert Superman to Sinestro's arrival at the Justice League Watchtower, and again while Despero, having been assaulted by the Sinestro Corps, is crashing into Earth.
When war finally erupts between the Regime and the Sinestro Corps against the Green Lanterns, Damian and the other members of the Regime are sent to deal with the various riots that Batman had planned to coincide with the Green Lanterns' invasion. Damian ends up fighting Catwoman and is knocked out and taken prisoner.
Year Three
Damian spends most of Year Three under imprisonment. When Batman puts Superman into indefinite sleep, he tries and fails to ask for Damian and the other Regime prisoners to switch sides.
Damian is eventually freed when Trigon and Mister Mxyzptlk's fight distorts reality, and Flash transports all of the Regime's members safely to the House of Secrets. In order to stop the clash, Doctor Fate, Batman and John Constantine try to banish the celestial being to the void, and Dick, having now become the new Deadman, arrives in the House of Secrets to ask for Shazam's help. Before Dick departs, Damian apologizes for the accident years prior, which Dick accepts.
The plan works and both the Insurgency and the Regime members return back to their respective roles. Damian and the other Regime members are then personally thanked for their continued help against Batman.
Year Four
While out with Cyborg, Damian is attacked by a depressed Renee Montoya and is knocked unconscious by the former officer, who had now overdosed herself with 5-U-93-R Pills. Renee later dies of heart failure during her fight against Superman thanks to this overdose and her body is taken away by a heartbroken Bruce Wayne.
Later on, Hermes arrives demanding that Superman relinquish control of Earth. In response to the arrival of the Amazonian army, Damian and Cyborg bring out the rest of the One Earth Government's forces, who are met by Batman. When Wonder Woman defeats Superman but is attacked by an unknowing Sinestro of the rules of judgement-by-combat, a fight erupts between Regime and the Gods and Batman's faction. During this time, Bruce apologizes to Damian for being angry with his son over Dick's death and offers for them to work together again, holding no grudge over the incident. Damian then refutes his father's words, citing the hatred he traced from Bruce's eyes when he was shoved off of Dick, and immediately rips off his Robin patch from his costume. Bruce then proceeds to floor Damian with a gut punch in response.
Eventually, after Superman kills Hercules and Wonder Woman causes a second disturbance angered Zeus intervenes, and Superman is pressured to disband the Regime. Superman then fails to regain his power by inviting Poseidon to challenge his brother's claim, leading to Zeus attacking all humans that believe in other religions. Hoping to prevent a slaughter, Damian and the other Regime members stationed in Earth do battle against the gods, and they receive surprise reinforcements from the Insurgents in their fight.
During the fight, however, Cyborg traces multiple nuclear missiles being launched at their position. With Yellow Lantern knocked out, Wonder Woman redirects the missiles to space with the help Superman, thus averting disaster. Superman then arrives with the Highfather, who convinces Zeus to return back to the realm of the gods and to stop interfering with mortal affairs.
Year Five
Damian continues to loyally follow Superman, though he remains a constant visitor of Alfred despite their differing standpoints. Although Damian thinks his father's efforts are futile, Alfred points out that Superman is constantly hounded by his own fears, which is why the butler is still confident in Batman's eventual victory. Facing growing inner doubts for himself, Damian is tasked with finding the various villains that scattered thanks to Plastic Man's assault on the Regime's prison complex. Damian's search leads him to drop down on one of Gotham's warehouses, where he finds many of Batman's enemies taking refuge. Despite dropping many villains, Damian is overwhelmed by the numbers, but as he loses consciousness, he is barely able to see Bronze Tiger go berserk and attack the other villains. By the time he wakes up, he is in the Hall of Justice's medical bay, where Cyborg reveals that he received Damian's distress call, much to his confusion.
Damian then returns to his room where he finds a box left by Dick, containing Dick's Nightwing gear and a letter hoping for Damian to eventually grow past his father's shadow. Damian is then congratulated by Superman, but Damian reveals Alfred's previous comments on Superman's fear. Despite Dick's gift, Damian still finds self-doubt as he only inherits someone else's mantle. While moving through Blüdhaven as Nightwing, he is followed by various members of the League of Assassins, who wish for Damian to join them in toppling over Earth's governments in order to bring the world under their balance. In response, Damian kills all the assassins. He later catches both Harley Quinn and Catwoman in a robbery, the latter having deserted Bruce's group after their repeated failures. Damian later asks Catwoman for advice in rediscovering himself, which she replies is to reintroduce himself as something new. She then blasts Damian's face with a pepper bomb before escaping.
Days later, Damian makes a surprise visit to the Batcave, bringing along a cake to celebrate Alfred's birthday. To his horror, he only finds Alfred's corpse and reports the murder to the Justice League. Damian then begins to hunt down Alfred's killer, Victor Zsasz. During his hunt, he sees Victor under Batman's foot and demands his father to avenge Alfred by killing Zsasz. As Bruce still refuses to kill under his code, Damian and Bruce immediately fight over the defeated Zsasz. While Superman joins the fight, Batman takes a Kryptonian pill and proceeds to defeat his friend. He then asks Damian if he would be happy if his father finally broke his code and killed Superman, but Damian sees through his father's bluff and throws an attack designed to kill at his father.
The effects of the pill then wear off as both Yellow Lantern and Wonder Woman arrive and defeat Batman, but Flash intervenes and rescues Bruce as a show of honor to the late Alfred, while Victor Zsasz is reincarnated. Nonetheless, thanks to Superman having Sinestro turn a blind eye in surveillance, Damian is able to murder Zsasz, repeatedly slashing through to the killer and sarcastically asking which of his famous marks represented Alfred.
After killing Zsasz, Damian later burned down Wayne Manor in an attempt to gain closure over the matter.
Fall of the Regime
Damian Wayne, son of Bruce Wayne, inherited his father's temper and lack of tolerance. Joining the One Earth regime, Damian killed Dick Grayson and adopted his Nightwing persona. He sides with Superman's One-Earth Regime in the parallel dimension. He and Hawkgirl are eventually able to find the Joker Gang's hideout, which he is surprised to find under a new Joker. Though Damian has no trouble dealing with the regular members, he is defeated by Joker, and members of the Insurgency soon pour in thanks to Harley's distress call. Hawkgirl then takes Damian and flees, much to his angry displeasure.
At Stryker's Island, when Batman's Insurgency is starting an attack to save the prime universe's Batman , Nightwing encounters Green Arrow. Green Arrow, thinking that this version of Nightwing is Dick Grayson, tried to reason with him until the parallel universe's Batman revealed that Nightwing is Damian Wayne, who killed Dick Grayson and took his identity. Batman states that he stopped being his son after that and that Dick Grayson was his true son. After defeating Nightwing, Batman said that he was "dead to him."
After the corrupt Superman's defeat at the hands of the prime universe's Superman, Nightwing, along with other Regime allies got arrested.
Possible Post-Regime Epilogue
Nightwing had beaten his former boss, Superman, in single combat. Not even Batman had done that. His thirst for conflict grew. He began challenging anyone who crossed his path.
Nightwing's belligerence eventually drew the attention of Sinestro. His Corps was always in need of new recruits, and the young human seemed able to inspire great fear. Sinestro had his suspicions confirmed when a Yellow Lantern Ring found its way onto Nightwing's finger.
Before Brainiac
For his participation in the Regime and the murders he had committed, Damian was sent to Lex Luthor Prison for Metahumans with Superman and many of the other Regime members.[3] Not long after Superman's imprisonment, a breakout was staged by the League of Assassins. Though they attempted to make it look like they were there for Superman, their main escapee was intended to be Damian - since the mission was lead by his mother and his newly revealed sister Athanasia.[4] The League wanted him back, despite his refusal a little more than a year earlier when he murdered all the members sent to invite him.[5] This time, Damian accepted and was successfully freed from prison.
In the League's hidden base in the Amazon Rainforest, Damian was introduced to the newest members and told by his grandfather - Ra's al Ghul - their plan: mass human genocide for the good of nature. Though Damian didn't seem necessarily enthused by their mission, he used the opportunity for access to a Lazarus Pit to recover the corpse of Alfred Pennyworth and revive him.[6] When Batman's team of heroes invaded, they accidentally caused the destruction of the League's endangered animal habit, and Batman took the revived Alfred back to Wayne Manor with him to fully recover.[7]
As an emissary for the League of Assassins, Nightwing visited Kahndaq to request the assistance of his former Regime ally Black Adam. There he discovered Kara Zor-El, Superman's cousin who Adam had rescued, and Adam and Nightwing worked together to train her to one day be able to rescue her cousin.[8]
Damian later informs Kara of Wonder Woman's imprisonment at Themsycira and plans her infiltration of the island. Through Damian's guidance, Kara is able to retrieve Wonder Woman and her supporters and they are able to escape back to Khandaq.
Damian then returns back to his grandfather after learning that a town in Arizona was destroyed along with everyone save for the animals. Knowing this to be his grandfather's handiwork, he reveals this to Vixen and Animal Man. The trio take their concerns to Ra's and Solovar, but Grodd grows further enraged by the human presence in Gorilla city and rebels. Solovar and al Ghul then have Amazo disable Grodd's psychic abilities and he is banished from Gorilla city. When Solovar and al Ghul finally use Amazo to attack Delhi's civilians, Damian immediately informs both Black Adam and Wonder Woman before convincing Jason Todd to take his side. Damian's group is able to break into Professor Ivo's room, but find that Amazo has now outlasted almost all the heroes assembled to fight.
Upon seeing this, Damian contacts Kara and asks for her to finally join the fight against the android. Meanwhile, Athanasia catches the group and Ivo and attacks them, but Ivo is able to finally power down Amazo as Kara launches the android to the moon. Damian then guides Kara and she is later able to finally destroy Amazo. While Kara is able to accomplish her task, Damian's group soon begins to try and flee Gorilla City, but Animal Man is killed while trying to fly Damian out, and Damian is left behind by Vixen and Jason.
Because of their treasonous act, Damian and Athanasia, who ended up killing Ivo, were sentenced to death. To their surprise, their mother assassinates their guards and brings them to a teleporter, leaving them free to choose their next destination, away from their grandfather.
Brainiac's Invasion
Damian remained within his prison cell throughout the lead-up to Braniac's invasion. During the invasion itself, Blue Beetle and Firestorm are left as the prison's wardens while the other heroes fight Braniac's robots.
While this is happening, many people begin rioting to free the Regime's members and have them help against the invaders. This call is answered by Wonder Woman, Black Adam and Supergirl, who breaks Damian's cell and passes his new attire and equipment to him. Damian then confronts his wardens to keep them from Superman's cell but is defeated. He eventually regroups with the other Regime members and attack Blue Beetle and Firestorm; forcing the latter to try and make a nuclear blast to stop them. Batman surprisingly intervenes and is immediately confronted by Supergirl. Damian then remarks of how his father hates secrets kept from him despite hiding many of his own. To his surprise, Bruce then personally opens Superman's cell asking for his help against Brainiac.
Superman then takes Black Adam and Damian to the Fortress of Solitude to scour Krypton's records for ways to combat Brainiac. Later on, Kara returns to tell her cousin of Wonder Woman's attempt to kill Harley. She is horrified to learn of her cousin's sympathies with Wonder Woman and attempts to flee to report to someone else, but Damian is sent to bar her escape. He is never seen again after this defeat, but it is presumed that he is sent to fight the Brainiac's betas in the case that Superman and Batman fail to defeat Brainiac.
Possible Post-Brainiac Epilogue
"Bruce Wayne was my father, and it was no secret I hated him. But despite all that, he sacrificed himself to save me. Giving me the chance to stop Brainiac permanently. I was so obsessed with escaping the Bat's shadow, I never appreciated what that symbol really meant. Not until I saw it stained with my father's blood. My blood.
This symbol is my legacy - a legacy of vengeance. My name is Damian Wayne. Son of Bruce, grandson of the Demon. I've been called Robin and Nightwing. But from now on, the world will know me as ... Batman."
New Regime
Having taken up the mantle of Batman following the defeat of his father and the return of Superman's regime, enhanced using Brainiac's parts, Damian travelled to the planet Eternia to recruit He Man and the Masters of the Universe in a last-ditch effort to liberate humanity from Kal-El's tyranny, and make right the sins he had committed.[9]
Powers and Abilities
Abilities
- Acrobatics: Damian is a skilled acrobat and can perform complex aerial maneuvers.[10]
- Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced): Damian has been trained in physical combat by the League of Assassins and Batman, making him a formidable opponent. His own father admitted that he is the most skilled fighter to ever wear the Robin costume.[10] He has been able to fight and kill multiple ninjas of the League of Assassins in a all against one fight.[5]
- Investigation
- Multilingualism: Damian can speak Bialyan.
- Stick Fighting: Damian is trained in the use of batons and can use them to quickly take out many opponents in a fight.[10]
- Swordsmanship
- Throwing
- Tracking[11]
Paraphernalia
Equipment
Weapons
Notes
- This version of the character is exclusive to the continuity of the video game Injustice: Gods Among Us and is an adaptation of Damian Wayne. The original character was created by Mike W. Barr, Grant Morrison, and Andy Kubert and first appeared in Batman: Son of the Demon.
- Damian Wayne was voiced by Neal McDonough in Injustice: Gods Among Us and by Scott Porter in Injustice 2 and by Zach Callison in Injustice.
Trivia
- Damian considered Dick Grayson his best friend.[9]
Related
Footnotes
- ↑ Injustice: Gods Among Us (Video Game)
- ↑ Injustice 2 (Video Game)
- ↑ Injustice 2 #1
- ↑ Injustice 2 #3
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Injustice: Gods Among Us: Year Five #3
- ↑ Injustice 2 #8
- ↑ Injustice 2 #12
- ↑ Injustice 2 #13
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Injustice vs. Masters of the Universe #3
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Injustice: Gods Among Us: Year Five #7
- ↑ Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent #4
- ↑ Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent #3
  This character is or was an incarnation of or an ally of Batman, and a member of the Batman Family. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the "Batman Family members" category. |
 This character is or was a member of the Insurgency, a gathering of heroes and villains who have come together to usurp Superman's Regime and restore democratic order on Earth in the events that precede and include the Injustice: Gods Among Us video game. |
 This character has been a member of the Justice League of America, or the Justice League in any of its various incarnations, sworn by a duty to act as guardians of America and the world by using their skills and/or superpowers to protect Earth from the clutches of both interstellar and domestic threats. |
 League of Assassins member |
 Legion of Super-Heroes member |
 This character is or was a member of the New Regime, a regime formed by Superman enforcing the law with an iron hand in the events that precede and include the Injustice: Gods Among Us video game. |
 This character is or was a member of the Sinestro Corps, chosen by Sinestro to counteract the Green Lantern Corps and spread terror throughout their sector with a Power Ring. |
 Suicide Squad member |
 Batman Villain(s) |
 This character is or was primarily an enemy of the Justice League, in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the category "Justice League Villains." |