Bruce Wayne has been around for a long time and his history as Batman is fairly well-established. Even in his more light-hearted moments, he’s still a weighted character at his core. Bruce lost his parents as a child and has been determined to get revenge, one way or another, ever since. Batman dedicates himself to protecting Gotham — even at his own detriment, and sometimes even when it’s the wrong thing to do.
Bruce Wayne makes a lot of bad decisions at Batman. Some even include him adopting Robin. Whether Robin is Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, or Damian Wayne, he will always undoubtedly have skills that Batman could never have, and do things that Batman just can’t do.
10 Have A Fulfilling Relationship With Dick Grayson
Dick Grayson was the first Robin of all of them. Many fans think of Dick as Robin before they think of anybody else. However, Dick moves on from Robin — first to become Nightwing, and eventually (albeit briefly) Batman. In any case, Dick and Bruce always have a rocky relationship.
Bruce isn’t the world’s best dad and Dick while is forgiving, there are some things that are hard to move past. Dick and Tim have a great relationship, and Dick is more of a dad to Damian than Bruce ever was. Even Jason and Dick have a better relationship than Dick and Bruce do, most of the time.
9 Work Well With A Team
Batman is one of the founding members of the Justice League, but he has a difficult time working with the team. He thinks he works better as a solo hero, even if this isn’t always necessarily true. Even when Batman needs the Justice League, he can still sometimes bristle at needing anybody at all.
However, the opposite is true for Robin. He’s a member of his own superhero team, the Teen Titans, and he works excellently with his team. More than that, when the team needs him most, Robin is always able to pull through — a claim that even Batman, unfortunately, can’t make.
8 Be A Team Leader
Robin even functions well as a leader of the Teen Titans. Bruce could be a great leader, but he doesn’t want to be, and this is always holding him back. Batman doesn’t want to need others or be needed by others, and this forces him to keep others at arm’s length. However, where Superman steps up for the Justice League, it’s Robin who steps up for the Teen Titans.
Robin is their natural-born leader, guiding them whenever they need him most, and offering all of himself as often as he can. He even is willing to learn from his mistakes and grow as a leader when necessary, something difficult for Bruce.
7 Maintain Romantic Relationships
Bruce Wayne has always had a challenging time maintaining his romantic relationships. It’s part of his struggle as Batman and Bruce Wayne; he can’t find balance, and he has a hard time letting anyone in to his life as Batman, so he always struggles to maintain romantic relationships.
However, Dick Grayson is one of the most flirtatious characters in all of DC Comics, and each of the Robins has more functional romantic relationships than Bruce has ever had in his life.
6 Beat Deathstroke In A Fight
There are a few villains that Batman has never been able to fully defeat. Characters like the Joker and Deathstroke attack him again and again, and he can never really put them down completely. However, when Deathstroke attacks, Robin has been able to defeat him in the past.
Dick Grayson as Robin has lead the Teen Titans to defeat Deathstroke in fights without the Batman more than once, and Damian Wayne beat Deathstroke on his own as Robin — also without Batman at his side. Batman may be holding both himself and his Robins back when it comes to actually defeating his supervillains.
5 Successfully Incorporate Acrobatics Into Crime-Fighting
When Bruce Wayne first met Dick Grayson, he was the orphaned child of two acrobats. Dick and his family were the Flying Grayson, performing with Haly's Circus, when his parents were killed. He was already greatly skilled in acrobatics at a young age, and, as Bruce Wayne adopted him and began training him to be his Robin, Dick started naturally incorporating acrobatics into his crime-fighting. He uses acrobatics a lot more than Bruce does, and he practically makes it look easy. He’s done it so long it’s effortless by now.
4 Working To Heal
Bruce Wayne never fully heals from his parents’ death. Of course, this was a traumatic event and would take a great deal of hard work mentally, emotionally, and in many other ways to ever heal from — and, even then, not completely.
Where Bruce Wayne became Batman, turning himself over to the darkness inside of him, Dick still tries to heal himself. He works to heal from the loss of his parents, even in the traumatic fashion in which he lost them. Alfred tries to help Dick along this process in a way that he tries to help Bruce, but Bruce refuses to let himself be helped.
3 He Does A Lot Of Work In And Out Of Uniform
When Bruce Wayne isn’t Batman, he doesn’t necessarily do much at all. He doesn’t even spend that much time out of uniform as Bruce Wayne, so that makes sense — he doesn’t have a lot of time and effort to dedicate to Bruce as a persona. His company does a lot of work, as does his name, that he approves, but he’s Batman most of the time.
Robin, however, is able to function both in and out of his superhero uniform. Even Dick Grayson, as he grows older and becomes a cop in Blüdhaven, realizes he can do good in his life on both sides, and strives to do so always. This makes him a lot more functional as a hero.
2 Fight With Abandon
Over the many years that Bruce Wayne has lived, he has seen some truly terrible things and lived through some honestly heinous experiences. All of that has made him more cautious as a fighter, more steady. It is the experience that only years can form in a fighter.
Because Robin is always younger than Batman, he never fights like Batman does. He doesn’t feel quite as mortal as Batman does, but then, children always seem to feel immortal. This is even more true for Robin, as he is always more powerful than the average kid — even if he can be hurt just the same, and often is.
1 He Can Even Take On The Role Of Batman Better Than Batman Does
When Bruce Wayne is no longer able to be Batman, everyone immediately turns to his Robins to take up the mantle. This is a struggle for all of them to do, as they all have their own — not always good — relationships with Batman, and all that he represents.
When Dick Grayson takes on the role of Batman and Damian serves as his Robin, it seemed the duo was never greater. They’re an effective crime-fighting team, perhaps more effective than even Bruce and Dick ever were. It seems that Robin can be Batman even better than Batman can.