SEEKERS OF THE BAT

Stephanie Brown is another character who has risen through the ranks of the Bat family. Starting her career as the Spoiler, she then takes over as Robin before returning from the grave in time for her friend Cassandra Cain to hand over the position of Batgirl.

As the daughter of supervillain Cluemaster, she donned the costume of the Spoiler in an effort to put a stop to her father’s crime sprees. Her actions gained the attention of Batman and Robin, who tried to dissuade her from continuing her vigilantism. Working alongside them, she developed a relationship with Tim Drake, who helped her through a pregnancy by an absentee ex-boyfriend.

Now on Batman’s radar, Stephanie was welcomed as a reserve Bird of Prey, even becoming fast friends with Batgirl Cassandra Cain, trading reading lessons for fight training. While patrolling with Tim, Stephanie was badly injured. His guilt over not being able to protect her in addition to his father finding out about his double life as Robin led to his quitting as Robin. Feeling responsible, Stephanie stitched together a Robin outfit of her own, and convinced Batman to take her on as a partner, thus becoming the first ‘official’ female Robin. Unfortunately her inexperience, and need to prove herself led her to igniting a citywide gang war and eventually to her ‘death’.

Stephanie later returns approximately a year later, having faked her death and been living in Africa in the meantime. Through a complex series of events, she ruins her relationship with Tim Drake, but instead inherits the Batsuit worn by Cassandra Cain, who disappears for reasons unknown. After being put through rigorous training by Batman, she takes over as the new Batgirl under the watchful eye of Oracle. After a few scrapes, a stronger, better trained, and more mature Stephanie makes the role her own by discarding Cassandra’s suit for the current Spoiler-purple trimmed Batgirl suit.

Edward Nashton, aka Edward Nygma aka The Riddler, was a brilliant young man whose aptitude for solving puzzles and cutting corners led him to crime. As a master schemer, he pushes Batman to his mental limits, however he has one major flaw: Be it psychosis, a desire to be caught, or simple hubris, he can’t help himself from leaving clues in the form of riddles before his crimes. This compulsion has also been explained as an obsessive compulsive need to tell the truth garnered from a childhood of parental abuse.

In recent times, Edward Nygma proclaims that he has reformed, and works as a private investigator for hire. However, you can be sure that the Batman keeps an eye on him at all times, in case the Riddler makes a grand return.

Interestingly, the Riddler was a minor, throwaway character until he was introduced to the Adam West television show where he quickly became an A-list Batman villain with his famous line “Riddle me this, Batman…”.

When all is said and done, young Timothy Drake may be regarded as the greatest of all those who have served under the name Robin. Although he will never surpass the other Robins at their strengths, his analytical skill has been compared to that of Batman himself. He is also the man who introduced the concept of pants to the role.

Single handedly deducing the identity of Batman after recognizing a quadruple flip performed by Dick Grayson, young Tim was welcomed into the Bat family. Not wanting to relive the events of Jason Todd’s death, Batman put Tim through extensive training by experts from around the world. To compensate his lack of natural skill, he developed a mastery of the staff, which would come to become his signature weapon.

Fiercely devoted to his friends, Time changed his costume to a red and black motif after the apparent death of his friend Conner Kent aka Superboy. He went on to abandon the Robin persona completely to investigate the death of Bruce Wayne, who he [correctly] believed to be trapped in time. To signify his new uncompromising view of life, he controversially took over the identity of the Red Robin, last used by the villainous Jason Todd.

After the murder of his father at the hands of Captain Boomerang, Tim joined Dick Grayson as a formal adoptee of Bruce Wayne.  Together with Damian, Batman’s biological son, each of these 3 Robins are doing their utmost in trying to uphold the legacy of their father.

With the majority of Batman’s rogues gallery, it is a foregone conclusion that Batman will always eventually physically get the upper hand.  Not so with Batman’s modern rival, Bane. Not only does Bane possess gifted intelligence rivalling Batman’s, but he is also demonstrably stronger than Batman.  Add to that an appetite for breaking spines and a daily IV drip of the fictional supersteroid Venom, which amplifies his strength many times over and allows him to heal quickly from any injury, and you have the makings of a villain who gives even the Dark Knight nightmares.

In fact, those nightmares are well deserved. Bane is most well known for deducing Batman’s identity, then orchestrating a series of events that culminated with his breaking of Batman’s spine over his knee.  Paralyzed, Batman was forced to surrender his cape to Jean-Paul Valley, an outsider. Bruce Wayne was broken in both body and mind for months while his replacement tarnished the reputation of the Batman. This was to be one of the most difficult times in the Batman’s life.

Bruce Wayne did eventually recover and took back both his caped identity and his confidence by defeating Bane in combat. Since then, Bane has straddled the line between hero and villain, kicking his addiction to Venom, and seeking redemption for his crimes. He has a deep respect for his one time rival, and even attempted to take over as Batman when Bruce Wayne appeared to die during Final Crisis. Bane currently serves as leader of the Secret Six, a sympathetic group of antiheroes, but it is unclear where the future will take him.

The Huntress is another of Gotham’s costumed vigilantes, notable because she’s been actively shunned by Batman. Although she has fought crime briefly as Batgirl (in the costume Cassandra Cain would later make famous), Batman considers her too violent to allow into his family. There is some meta irony here as Helena Bertinelli, daughter of murdered mobsters was once Helena Wayne, daughter of Batman and Catwoman, in an alternate universe that no longer exists.

Although she continues to struggle for “daddy’s” approval, she has earned the respect of her peers, even serving stints with the Justice League and Birds of Prey. However, her aptitude for violence holds her back from gaining any real traction within the superheroic community.

Ra’s Al Ghul and his daughter Talia are unique members of  Batman’s gallery of rogues. That is because they consider Batman part of their family.

Ra’s Al Ghul is Arabic for ‘The Demon’s Head’. He created the League of Assassins, an eco-terrorist group devoted to thinning out the human population, over 600 years ago. His longevity is due to his repeated use of extremely rare Lazarus Pits, which renew youth at the cost of your sanity. For all his years, he has not found a more worthy opponent than Batman, who he simply calls ‘Detective’. He has repeatedly tried to recruit Batman to join his side, even offering him marriage to his mortal daughter Talia.

Although he returns Talia’s affections, Batman can not be associated with the League of Assassins.  As heir of the Demon (and skilled assassin in her own right), Talia is torn between her allegiance to her father and her feelings for Batman. Matters were made more complicated once they consummated their relationship with the birth of a son, Damian.

Despite all the times she has put his life at risk, she continues to keep watch over Batman from afar. Even helping nurse her ‘step-son’ Jason Todd back to health, and training Catwoman (Batman’s girlfriend at the time) how to protect his identity against interrogation. She reveals her true feelings by continuing to refer to Batman as ‘Beloved’.

After Dick Grayson left the fold to become Nightwing, Batman was left without a partner. That wouldn’t last long, as he soon came across an angry but extremely gifted juvenile delinquent named Jason Todd.

As the second Robin, Jason was violent, unmerciful and allowed people to die. Although Batman tried to reel in his tendencies, Jason soon became a very unpopular character, prompting DC Comics to conduct a nationwide poll on his fate.   The people spoke, and in the infamous ‘A Death in the Family’ story arc,  the Joker bludgeoned Jason Todd to death with a crowbar before Batman could save him.

Much like the obsessive, irrational guilt he holds over being unable to prevent his parents’ death, Batman also punishes himself for Jason Todd’s death. Soon after he took on Tim Drake as the third Robin, he erected the now-familiar glass memorial to Jason’s memory to ensure he never forgot his greatest failure.

The significance of Jason Todd’s glass case would eventually have gone the way of the giant penny and robot dinosaur except that in 2003, Jason was brought back to life by the ridiculous “Superboy-Prime Reality Punch”. In retroactive continuity, Jason now inexplicably clawed his way out of his grave shortly after his death to be nursed back to health by Talia, daughter of Ra’s Al Ghul. He has returned to plague the Bat family in a number of guises, first as an adult Robin, then as an evil Nightwing, then as the murderous Red Robin, then as a gun-toting stand-in for the recently killed (Omega Sanctioned) Batman, and currently as the new Red Hood, the original alter ego of the Joker. In all his versions, he sees himself as a more effective Batman, using lethal force to succeed where his mentor failed.

Update: His return in the comics has coincided with the release of the excellent animated film: Under the Red Hood, which recounts Batman’s reaction to his return:

Part of Harlequin‘s tragedy was her becoming romantically involved with a homicidal madman. Perhaps it was his winning smile that won her over?

Another prime example of an animated character’s popularity forcing them back into the official comic book canon is Harlequin.  Harleen Quinzel was a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum who was assigned to the Joker. Not only did she fail to reform him, but her deep probing of his mind drove HER insane and she fell madly in love with him.

She was initially written as a desperate, clingy stalker used exclusively for comic relief. However, in recent continuity, she has grudgingly recognized that the Joker never loved her, and has become a thorn in Batman’s side in her own right.

Batman Beyond was an animated television show set in Batman’s alternate future. In 2039, Bruce Wayne has retired and Batman has been forgotten. Until 16 year old Terry McGinnis discovers the Batcave and borrows a futuristic flying Batsuit. After some initial distrust, Bruce allows Terry to continue on as the ‘Batman of the Future’, under his watchful, curmudgeonly eye.

In 2010, a limited comic book series was released that ties the Batman Beyond continuity into comic book canon. Assuming storylines unfold as planned, Terry McGinnis will be the 4th person to be inherit the mantle of Batman, after Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, and Damien Wayne.

Batman Beyond Intro