SEEKERS OF THE BAT

Batman began his crusade as an orphan, with his butler as his only friend, and earned a reputation as an unrepentant bachelor. Despite all this, in modern stories, he is written as a cold but caring father, both metaphorical and literally.

He has one biological son in Damian, and two adopted sons in Dick and Tim. He has one more lost black sheep in Jason. Much more so than the Batgirls, the four male Robins strive for his respect, desperately attempting to support him in his impossible quest, each in their own way. In return, their influence has humanized Batman. He has made an effort to balance being an unfeeling force of nature with what is best for his boys.  He is also trying to be the best father he can be.

If you’re going for a comic-accurate Batman costume, you’d be hard pressed to find a better one than the one pictured here. Although a movie version would be more [realistically] armored,  a clothy one like this jumps straight off of one of Frank Quitely’s pages.  The colors are perfectly muted, and even the belt is faithfully bright yellow,  I half expect a creepy Damian to stride into the shot at any moment.  ( We know it’s Dick Grayson because of the batman logo belt buckle :D )

After Bruce Wayne’s apparent death in Final Crisis, the rest of the Bat family had an internal struggle as to who should carry on as Batman. In this teaser photo, we have a sampling of the major players.  From left to right, the various Batmen are: Tim Drake, Dick Grayson, Two-Face, Jason Todd, with a special mention to Hush (with a bandage around his leg), who surgically altered his appearance to match Bruce Wayne’s.

Dick Grayson eventually reluctantly gave up his Nightwing persona to become the new, kinder Batman taking his adoptive stepbrother Damian on as his Robin.

This wonderful fan trailer depicts an alternate future where Dick Grayson, the original Robin, has to come out of retirement to avenge the death of the Batman.  They appear to ignore Dick’s time as Nightwing, as well as [his wife!] Barbara’s crippling at the hands of the Joker (although one shot alludes to it). Superman appears to play a minor role as a boy scout blindly following orders, as well as several great appearances by Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Aquaman?, Batgirl, Catwoman, the Riddler, Penguin and of course the Joker. If there was one fan trailer I’d want to see made into a full film, this would definitely be it.

via Untamed Cinema

Possibly the most significant figure next to Bruce Wayne himself is his adopted son, Richard ‘Dick’ Grayson; aka the first Robin, aka Nightwing, aka Batman. Three heroes, one man.

Having his parents murdered before his eyes, the young circus acrobat was taken in by a sympathetic Bruce Wayne and given the chance to bring the criminals responsible to justice as Robin, Batman’s sidekick. Although Dick and Bruce had similar beginnings, their differing temperaments soon became evident. Batman was grim and brutal, whereas Robin was cheerful and prone to juvenile wordplay.

Philosophical differences would eventually drive a wedge between the two as the grown Robin left the Bat family and Gotham to become Nightwing in the nearby city of Bludhaven. The two men eventually reconciled and even made the bond official as Bruce filed to legally adopt Dick as an adult.

In 2009 comics continuity, Bruce Wayne died/ went missing, and after much thought, Dick stepped into the cape and cowl of Batman, and even took on a new Robin. Although he initially felt unworthy of taking over, he was advised by Alfred to look on the role of the dark, grim Batman as “the performance of his life” and has generally succeeded at convincing the world that the Batman can never be defeated.