DC is About to Settle The Batman vs Robin Debate (& Not How You Think)

Robin has always been an essential part of Batman’s mythos. The Boy Wonder debuted less than a year after the Dark Knight himself, and has stood as his greatest partner ever since. The Dynamic Duo were inseparable for decades, and even today, Robin is one of the most important characters in DC. Batman and Robin have always been partners, but that’s not to say that things have always been smooth sailing. The Robins have very often clashed with Batman for one reason or another, usually stemming from wanting to be better respected or differences that just needed to be talked out. They fight a lot, but there’s rarely a definite winner.

That’s all changing, as the newest Robins are about to pound Batman into the dirt. The Absolute Universe has reimagined the entirety of DC, and that includes the Robins. Once, they were Batman’s greatest partners, but now they’re his number one enemy’s top soldiers. Absoltue Batman #20 gave us the very start of Batman’s clash with all five Absoltue Robins, and not only is this set to be one of Batman’s biggest battles to date, but it’s also one where he’s definitely going to lose. The Robins are going to beat Batman, at least the first time, because Batman is nowhere near his best.

Robins Trained to Hunt a Bat

In the Absoltue Universe, Bruce Wayne never adopted any children. Instead, Jack Grimm, the Joker, took in orphans. With his vast resources and incredible skills, he trained the most promising candidates to physical and mental perfection under Deathstroke’s tutelage. He primed them to be elite warriors with the same type of skills as Batman, and he didn’t stop there. Joker outfitted the Robins with their own mech suits. Dick and Jason control what are effectively Megazords, and the others each have motorcycles that can transform into personal suits of armor. These Robins are trained and equipped to take down Batman with vastly superior numbers and firepower.

Their fight began when Batman was at his worst. He was still reeling from Gordon’s death and the revelation that Joker orchestrated his becoming Batman. He confronted Joe Chill about it, only for Scarecrow to reveal the dark truth. Then, just to add insult to injury, he had Chill hang himself and pinned the blame on Batman. Bruce fled from the scene, clearly shaken to his core and alone after cutting off all his allies, only to immediately be attacked by the Robins. They knocked him out of the sky and surrounded him. Alfred begged Batman to run, but he refused, instead taking out his axe.

Batman’s Big Defeat Is Inevitable

Batman is going to lose this fight. All the seeds are there, and we just need to examine a few of them to show why. For one, it’s very, very likely that Batman is infected with Scarecrow’s fear-inducement powers. We’ve seen that he transfers his Fear Toxin through crows, and these same crows swarmed Batman during his visit to Chill. Batman is very upset and not thinking straight, babbling to Alfred in a very un-Batman-like way. Seeing Chill die in front of him definitely shook him, but it shouldn’t be to this degree unless he was compromised. Bruce is already losing the mental war. Sure, he’ll rebel and punch instead of getting scared, but his faculties are not his own right now.

Batman is outgunned and outmanned by people who are at least reasonably as skilled as he is. However, the second biggest reason is on a narrative level. We’ve spent a decent chunk of this story building up the Robins as a major threat, so it wouldn’t make sense for Batman to immediately win a one against five when he has so many factors stacked against him. It’s far more likely that Bruce will be stomped into the ground by the Robins and forced to flee, only to come back later with a new strategy. Personally, I think the most likely is working with his own team that he’s been evading: his friends. They all seem to be coming around, after all, and a theme of this arc is friendship and unity.

Absolute Batman #20 is on sale now!

Whether their alliances are temporary or not, Batman and his usual villains fighting the Robins looks like the most likely scenario, and I’m hyped beyond belief. What do you think? Leave a Comment below and join the conversation in the ComicBook Forum!

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