SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Teen Titans #20 by Adam Glass, Bernard Chang, Marcelo Maiolo and Rob Leigh, on sale now.


When a traditionally street level character leaves the comfort of the city they protect and heads for the stars, it’s not surprising if they return to Earth with an entirely new perspective on how things are done, and that’s exactly what’s happened to Damian Wayne following the events of Justice League: No Justice.

Having staked out a role for himself outside the Batman family, Robin has established a new team of Teen Titans operating out of Brooklyn and a new approach to supervillains that would make Batman quite angry, should he ever find out.

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New Justice

Robin returned from space unsatisfied with the usual operating methods of Batman and his allies, but unsure how to proceed next or what his new methods would be. That was until his favorite Gotham restaurant was attacked by goons working for Black Mask and its owner was killed in an explosion, leaving a family without a home, business or a father. This led Robin to seek out Black Mask but his tour of Gotham’s underworld led him to realize that people are so used to Batman’s no-kill methods, it’s becoming even harder to operate effectively when the criminals know that there are no real consequences to not cooperating with the heroes. In an attempt to change things, Robin confronted Black Mask in a sauna and, having already taken out all his guards, shot the villain point blank in the face.

But this week’s Teen Titans #20 reveals that isn’t the whole story, as we learn more about Robin’s new headquarters for the Teen Titans, Mercy Hall. An abandoned juvenile detention center in the heart of Brooklyn, Mercy Hall was one of Batman’s secret stash houses which he has scattered all over the world, though it was deemed to have structural concerns and was removed from Batman’s list.

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However, Robin faked the report, leaving Mercy Hall completely off the grid to Batman or anyone else. This move has allowed him to dedicate an entire building to incarcerating supervillains, including Brother Blood, Onomatopoeia, Atomic Skull... and Black Mask.

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Revolving Door

Robin’s justification for his new method of dealing with supervillains is that he’s sick of villains being locked away in Arkham only to break out, hurt some more people, and get locked back up in Arkham. It’s quite literally a vicious cycle which is putting innocent people in danger, and Robin’s own private prison accomplishes two goals vital to his plan to save Gotham.

First, and most obviously, it gets villains off the streets, but more importantly, it allows other villains and their henchmen to believe that Robin and the Teen Titans are killing off the villains they fight, defying Batman’s no-kill rule, and once again provides consequences for any villains who choose not to cooperate.

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The roster of Robin’s assembled villains is a curious one, because while Black Mask and Onomatopoeia make sense as relatively street-level villains — a gang boss and an assassin, respectively — Brother Blood is a much more serious threat, with connections to demons and dark forces that put him several tiers above your average crook. Similarly, Atomic Skull is a powerhouse who can go toe-to-toe with Superman and was most recently seen turning his life around in the pages of Superwoman, so his role in Robin’s prison is an interesting one that will hopefully be explored in more detail in future issues, to explain his fall from grace.

There’s also a mystery villain with some sort of sack or bag covering their head, which will likely be explored in future issues, because if superhero comics post-2000s love anything, it’s the tease of a recognizable character hiding their identity from the reader.

Father Figure

The biggest enemy for the Teen Titans is one that we don’t see, and one that we likely won’t for a while: Batman.

Damian has always been at odds with his father, and they’ve never quite gelled as Batman and Robin in the way that Damian did with Dick Grayson during the latter’s tenure as the Dark Knight. This new modus operandi for Damian might just to be too far for Batman to allow, and we may get some parental intervention at some point in the near future.

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It’s important to remember that while intelligent and competent, Damian is just recently turned thirteen years old, and thirteen year olds are generally idiots, with all those hormones flying around and what not. What he’s doing at Mercy Hall flies in the face of everything Batman has established for himself and his network of allies, and if Damian is going to continue to round up villains and throw away the key, he’s just begging for his father’s attention.

Of course, that just raises the question: Is Damian doing all of this just so his father will spend some time with him? Bruce has never been especially close to Damian and even for a child as gifted as he is, that's got to be hard. This entire Teen Titans endeavour may just be a cry for attention on Damian's part, from a child that desperately needs his father to act like a dad.

There's also the important note that Robin's teammates don't know what he's up to; the comic is very clear that while Damian is bringing Brother Blood to his secret private prison, the rest of the team are hanging out without him and questioning where their fearless leader may have gone. Robin recruited each member of the Teen Titans with certain promises, but he's betraying them all with these lies of omission, especially Kid Flash who joined the team partly to have more of a say in how it's run compared to their last incarnation of the team and to serve as a more measured voice compared to Robin's more vicious tendencies. When it becomes public knowledge — and it will; this is superhero comics — Robin's new team may implode before they ever get the chance to really make their mark on the DC Universe.