Though Dick Grayson may be the first son of The Bat, there is another with a more legitimate claim to the title of Heir of The Bat. Damian Wayne. While Damian may be the son of Bruce Wayne, he’s had a long journey to becoming a Robin worthy of the title.
Damian is brash, abrasive, stubborn and, for a long time, unwilling to accept the fact that he still had much to learn. But over time Damian has managed to pull his act together and become not only a spectacular Robin but a cherished member of the Bat-family. The real question is, however, has he managed to outshine Dick as both a Robin and a hero?
10 Trained By Ra's al Ghul - Damian
One of Damian’s greatest strengths is the simple fact that he has been training as a warrior for such a great portion of his life. Born into the League of Assassins, Damian has had the opportunity to train with some of the greatest martial artists on the planet.
Martial artists like Ra’s al Ghul and his daughter Talia have been training Damian not only to fight from a very young age but also to kill. Though Dick has been trained by Bruce from a young age to never kill, Damian has come to terms with the fact that sometimes bad people simply cannot be allowed to continue.
9 Experience - Dick
Though Damian has been training for most of his life, Dick is significantly old and has also been training for most of his life. Even before Dick was taken under Bruce’s wing, he had significant acrobatic training as one of the flying Graysons.
While it’s possible that Damian will one day manage to meet Dick on equal footing, Dick is simply much more experience than his younger brother. Dick has been combat-tested from a very young age, and while Damian had a lot of training in his youth, it simply doesn’t match the kind of feats that Dick had accomplished before he even hit his late teens.
8 Master Of Martial Artists From A Young Age - Damian
Though Dick is incredibly experienced, Damian’s lifetime of training is definitely a benefit to him. For starters, as Damian might put it, Damian is lightyears ahead of where any of the other Robins were during their time donning the mantle. Damian is the only Robin or Batman’s many, many Robins that was allowed to wear a hooded costume.
It isn’t something that Batman takes lightly, and Damian was only permitted to wear the hood after proved to his father that not only did he have excellent hearing, but he could fight his opponents without even seeing them.
7 Raised By The Bat - Dick
While Damian was trained from a very young age by Ra’s al Ghul, Talia al Ghul and the rest of the League of Assassins, it’s difficult to say if that’s really a match for how Dick was raised.
Though the League of Assassins, along with Ra’s and Talia, are indeed very formidable foes, Batman has taken them all down, time and time again. So is being raised by the league really a bonus when it comes to an upbringing when the alternative is being raised by Batman himself? Not likely.
6 Legitimate Heir To The Bat - Damian
Though Dick may be the first son of the Bat-family, Damian has an actual birthright when it comes to the mantle of the Bat. Being Bruce Wayne’s legitimate biological son has not only had an undeniable impact on the latest iteration of Robin, but it’s also changed The Bat himself irrevocably.
While it is clear that Bruce has a deep love for all the young men that he has taken in and trusted not only with his secret, but trusted enough to have his back whenever he’s in too deep to get out alone, Damian is his legitimate son and that’s a bond that’s not easily broken on either end.
5 Interpersonal Skills - Dick
One of Dick’s greatest strengths comes from his near-superhuman level of interpersonal skills. Despite the fact that he was raised by the person with possibly the lowest level of interpersonal skills, or perhaps because of it, Dick has managed to become someone truly capable of connecting with those around him.
Dick is capable of empathizing and understanding those around him on a deep and personal level regardless of which side of the law they find themselves on. Unlike Damian, who is often brash and abrasive, assuming that he knows better than those around him. Must be genetic or something.
4 Very Strong-willed - Damian
Another thing that must’ve been genetically instilled in Damian Wayne is his indomitable will. Damian is not only the type of person who will never give up despite facing insurmountable evidence, but he will even put his life on the line to followthrough with his plans.
Going against Batman, regardless of which side of the law a character may find themselves, is not an advisable action. However, though Damian has been taught by Batman himself not to kill, he’s still willing to make that call should he decide that it’s not necessary. Just another testament to how strong-willed Damian is as a character.
3 A Better Leader - Dick
A key attribute that comes along with Dick’s inhuman level of interpersonal skills is his ability to make such a great leader. Dick understands how his team works because he’s gone to such great lengths to understand what makes them tick as people.
So when it comes to making them work as heroes, driving them, pushing them to exceed limits that they didn’t think they could break, Dick knows exactly how to take his team to the next level. This is a skill that young Damian still needs to do a lot of work in cultivating.
2 Business Sense - Damian
While there are many things that Damian has accomplished on the streets of Gotham, (re)forming the Teen Titans, fighting off assassins and criminals galore, dying and being reborn to name a few, on of his most impressive feats stands high above the streets of Gotham.
Though Damian may still be incredibly young, even as far as teenaged heroes are concerned, he has actually managed to gain a seat on the board of his father’s company. Not only was he able to maintain his position, but he was able to track down some discrepancies in the books and present them to the board. A move that both impresses and terrified the member of the board.
1 A Better Bat - Dick
Though Bruce has taken on many, many proteges in his time as the Batman, there have been maybe one or two that have not faltered under the immense burden that comes with wearing the cowl. Dick Grayson is perhaps the best of them.
While Damian, Tim, and Jason have all put on the cowl at one point or another, none of them has met the expectations that Bruce had laid out as an example. Not only was Dick able to handle the job without going on some sort of killing spree, but he, perhaps, is an even better, more adjusted version of Batman than Bruce could’ve ever hoped to be.