Damian Wayne

Damian Wayne is the son of Batman and Talia al Ghul. This makes him an heir to the world's greatest crime-fighter, and its greatest super-villain Ra's al Ghul. Damian became the fifth Robin, working alongside his father as Batman. Sometime after Batman became a public hero, he fought Ra's al Ghul and the League of Assassins. During his adventure, he met Ra's' daughter Talia al Ghul. The two young adults fell for each other and, after a brief fling, they conceived a child. Bruce was unaware of the child's conception and returned to crime fighting for years. Talia on the other hand, taking advantage of the hero's impressive genes, believed their child to be a perfect heir. The child was born and given the name Damian. Talia then used the League's extensive scientific resources to inorganically speed up the child's aging - giving him the physiology of a ten year old in less than five years. During this time, Damian was raised by Talia and trained by the League of Assassins; Damian became a skilled assassin by an early age. Coupled by his innate talent for the art and his lineage, Damian became a respected member of the League. Eventually, when Talia deemed that Damian was ready, she allowed him to go to Gotham and meet his father - the Batman. Batman was surprised to learn he had a secret son with a supervillain but sought to learn more about the boy anyway. Despite his intense training to become a remorseless assassin, Damian was sympathetic to his father's vigilantism in Gotham and volunteered to become his next sidekick. Batman agreed and granted Damian the mantle of Robin, his fourth ward to use the name. However, the father and son were not active together very long before Bruce was seemingly killed by Darkseid during a massive invasion. Bruce's first protégé Dick Grayson took over the mantle of Batman, and Damian, not giving up on his father's missions, agreed to continue on as Grayson's Robin. Though the two were originally contentious of one another, they bonded closely, forming a brotherly relationship. As the Dynamic Duo, they faced new threats such as Doctor Hurt, Professor Pyg and Flamingo. Eventually, Bruce returned from the dead, having been travelling through time the entire time, and Bruce and Damian returned to patrolling together as Batman and Robin, father and son. Bruce tried teaching Damian, still a cold-hearted assassin, about the sanctity of life, but had trouble relating with his son. Damian began showing restraint, which Bruce commended, although Alfred still criticized him for not being supportive enough. Bruce bought Damian a dog named Titus. They were both targeted by a super-villain named Nobody. They were kidnapped by Nobody, who tried to show Batman that his no-kill methods were ineffective. He encouraged Robin's darker side and tried to take him as an apprentice. Robin angrily left the Batcave to work with Nobody, who asked him to execute a criminal. Robin revealed that he was lying, and refused to betray his father. Nobody decided to torture Robin, continuing his personal vendetta against Batman. When Batman discovered their location, he beat Nobody mercilessly and came close to killing him, but stopped when he realized Damian was watching the fight. Nobody swore that he would return and kill their friends, so Damian killed him with a move Nobody had taught him. Though deeply shaken by the killing, Bruce reacted with compassion rather than anger. When Damian regained consciousness, they talked about how difficult it is for Damian to adjust from the life of an assassin. Despite their differences, they played ball with Titus and began to enjoy spending more time together as father and son. Batman and Robin began working together against Damian's mother Talia al Ghul, revealed as the head of Leviathan. During a fight in a meat factory, Damian converted to vegetarianism and adopted a pet cow who he named Bat-Cow. He was believed dead when he was shot in the head by an assassin named Goatboy. It was revealed that Talia had created another clone as his replacement, the obedient fully-grown Heretic. Robin was shown to have faked his death, and is confined to the Batcave at Batman's orders. To avoid the bounty Talia placed on his head, he began using the name Redbird and switched to a new costume. This allowed him to team up with Jason Todd, who was using the Wingman identity. They worked together with Batman Incorporated to take down the League of Assassins' top killers. However, Batman told Damian he had to quit crime-fighting altogether. Bruce revealed that he has seen Damian's future, as told through "Batman in Bethlehem". If Damian did not retire, his actions would lead to a plague that would force the President to nuke Gotham. Batman Incorporated fought Leviathan in the streets, while Damian was forced to stay inside. Alfred Pennyworth got him a cat to take care of, who he also named Alfred. Damian refused to stay home while his allies were dying, and Alfred allowed him to leave knowing he could not be stopped. He flew his exo-skeleton into the center of the battle, where Leviathan had taken over Wayne Tower. He neutralized the child soldiers, and teamed up with Dick Grayson to take down the remaining assassins. The Heretic flew Grayson aside, and challenged Damian to a sword-fight. Despite his bravery and refusal to give up, Damian was impaled through the chest and killed. After various trials and tribulations involving his corpse, mainly revolving around Ra's al Ghul and Apokolips, Batman managed to rescue his son's body and, through using the Omega Sanction infused within a Chaos Crystal shard, brought Damian back to life within the Batcave.