Where Should Damian Wayne First Appear as a Live-Action Character?

If someone had asked ten years ago where Damian Wayne — the son of Batman and Talia Head, the daughter of Ra’s al Ghul — should make his live-action debut, the obvious answer would have probably been “in The Dark Knight Rises,” since there were years between each installment of the series and Ra’s was the primary antagonist in Batman Begins. Now, though, we have a shared DC universe, a Titans TV series, and an upcoming movie that features a new Batman in what appears to be a stand-alone timeline. That’s a lot of options, and with no “older” Batman and no Ra’s al Ghul playing an active role at the moment, it’s an interesting question to ponder.

One could easily look to The Batman as the obvious choice, but there’s a problem there: Bruce Wayne is in his second year as the Dark Knight Detective. Sure, you could make the argument that maybe he met and hooked up with Talia during his training (the Nolan movies established the idea that he trained with Ra’s as something casual fans can acccept), but what’s the point of making Batman young and inexperienced, if the first thing you’re going to do is make him the father of a ten-year-old?

The next obvious option would probably be Titans. This one would be particularly appealing, since it already features both Dick Grayson (the first Robin) and Jason Todd (the second). So — why would we argue against it?

First of all, the show needs to have Tim Drake before it can have Damian Wayne. Tim was the third Robin, and the one who had the longest-running solo title by a country mile. He has a strong fan base among comics fans, as well as among fans of the DC Animated Universe, where he appeared in several series as the main Robin.

So it’s appealing to have the third Robin show up if you’ve already used the first two. Check. So skipping Tim on Titans would be weird, but would it really be a disqualifying event?

Not necessarily, no — but think about how little Batman actually appears in the series. If Damian went to Titans, the father-son dynamic that’s so key to his development as a character would have to be largely ignored. Sure, the idea of teaming him up with Dick and making Jason a little jealous and angry would be kind of appealing, but it doesn’t seem like a great trade-off.

So, where would he make the most sense?

Probably in The Flash. A multiverse-hopping adventure, we know that The Flash will feature at least two Batmen (Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton), with some fans expecting we’ll get at least one more announcement (Jeffrey Dean Morgan, anyone?) before all is said and done.

Whether it’s adding a dash of humanity to Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne, or using Damian in the Michael Keaton/Burtonverse timeline to show off how much more stable Batman is in a world where he doesn’t prevent himself from forming attachments, a minor role for Damian could be a great way to introduce him to the audience, and the nature of having older Batmen means he could show up, maybe even AS Robin, with little to no explanation and just have Batman reveal that his mom dropped him off one day. Given that it seems likely Ben Affleck’s Snyderverse Batman is going to be saying goodbye to us in that film, either choice — giving Damian to Batfleck for some semblance of closure, or giving him to another Batman to counterpoint Affleck-Batman’s life choices — could work really well, and could ease the audience into the idea that Batman has a teenage son that probably 99% of casual moviegoers have never heard of before.

Then, presumably, he could show up down the line in other things and, having been established in The Flash, it wouldn’t surprise or confuse the audience much.

What do you think? Would you like to see Damian Wayne show up in The Flash, or is there another spot you think he would work better? Drop your thoughts in the comments below, or yell at @russburlingame on Twitter.