The not-so-dynamic duo.
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00:00There's no denying that Batman and Robin are the most iconic duo that comics have ever produced.
00:03However, there is a downside to this team-up.
00:06The pair are defined by their friendship, sure, but as with most friendships, they fight, hurt, and disagree every so often.
00:12In fact, it's proven to be a constant source of drama in the comics, so much so that writers find themselves revisiting this well, time and time again.
00:19So with that in mind, I'm Josh from WhatCulture.com, and these are the 10 Worst Things Batman Has Done to Robin.
00:24Number 10, he made Damien a zombie, pretty much anywhere.
00:27Initially, it's difficult to see how Batman saving his son is anything but a classic example of superhero bad-assery.
00:33However, while bringing Damien back to life is a heroic move, and fighting Darkseid to be able to do so is uniquely compelling,
00:39there's something undeniably spooky about the process.
00:42In trying to bring his son back, Batman basically risks the lives of the whole of Earth by angering Darkseid,
00:47who is one of the most powerful villains in the DC Universe.
00:50More importantly, he clearly doesn't know how the Chaos Shard used to bring Damien back actually works,
00:55and has no idea about its side effects, meaning that there was a decent chance the whole plan could've failed,
01:00or even done awful things to his zombie son.
01:02Batman also lies to, experiments on, and actually betrays the Justice League in order to carry out said plan,
01:07and luckily this is somehow completely forgiven,
01:10as otherwise Damien could've found himself brought back to life just to be the Justice League's enemy number one.
01:15When Frankenstein himself tells you not to bring someone back, it might be time to just move on.
01:19Number 9, not telling them that he was getting married.
01:22Batman and Catwoman's announced wedding in 2016 was the subject of much excitement
01:26between fans and in-universe characters alike.
01:28However, between these celebrations, there is one panel in particular that stands out,
01:32namely the one where we find out that Bruce actually didn't tell any of his collective wards
01:36that he was even considering marrying the ex-villain.
01:39Sure, nobody wants to hear about their dad's love life, especially when it involves him repeatedly arresting said love interest,
01:44but giving them a heads up seems like the very least that the Caped Crusader could do.
01:48The best part of all this, though, is that Alfred is the one to let the team know
01:52that their father-slash-mentor is getting hitched,
01:54which means that Bruce somehow didn't think anyone else needed the memo.
01:57Keeping up the secretive nature of Batman is one thing,
02:00but when there is a very real chance that a Robin or ex-Robin could've incarcerated their new stepmother,
02:04you probably think that at the very least, Batman could've texted them or something.
02:08Number 8, not telling them anything.
02:11Practically every Batman comic contains the hero keeping something hidden from one of his sidekicks.
02:15Admittedly, sometimes these things need to be kept secret because keeping secrets, well,
02:19is the only reason that Bruce even gets to be Batman.
02:22That said, there are also times where Batman keeps vital information to himself
02:25just for the sole motive of being able to continue to brood over keeping secrets.
02:29Regardless of which Robin it is, every single one has thrown themselves blindly into danger through this,
02:33either to find out what's being hidden, or because they have no idea what dangers haven't been explained to them
02:38by the one guy they are supposed to trust to keep them safe.
02:41Although Batman's dark nature means that he is naturally secretive as I've mentioned,
02:45there is a huge line between him not revealing things unless he absolutely has to,
02:48and him actively keeping secrets that result in various Robins almost dying.
02:53Number 7, being a terrible father.
02:55Balancing being a businessman and also secretly being Batman is a lot of work,
02:59especially when you have to take care of the kids on the side.
03:01But given Bruce's motivation to adopt all of those Robins is to help them, allegedly,
03:05then his often unstable behavior around them isn't really excusable.
03:08Although everyone wants to learn sweet ninja moves from Batman,
03:11he is also supposed to be helping them with their issues, which often go ignored.
03:15Admittedly, this ranges between writers, as some have Batman in the role of total team dad,
03:19whereas others have him be as much of a threat to his sidekicks as the villains themselves.
03:24Usually, we see that Bruce genuinely cares about his wards,
03:27but for all this, we see little of him actually taking care of them.
03:30Maybe because this would be considered less interesting than watching him beat people up,
03:34but still, a little variety never hurts.
03:36Batman isn't the worst dad in the DC Universe by a country mile,
03:39he even kind of beats Superman in most continuities,
03:41but it has to be said that every Robin has at some point needed him to be a father figure,
03:45and he often fails at living up to that.
03:50Being Batman is kind of a thankless job.
03:52You get cool powers, sure, and some solid cardio in,
03:55but it's also kind of the worst job of all time and leads without fail to an untimely death.
03:59That said, the fact that Batman so often insists that Robin number one,
04:02Dick Grayson, take his place should he go missing or die is actually kind of a dick move,
04:06as it's more or less a death sentence for his eldest child.
04:09The whole reason Dick left Gotham and his mentor in the first place
04:12was to attempt to gain some independence away from Batman,
04:15and so making him come back to take the role takes a steel crowbar
04:18to any freedom that he did gain while away.
04:20Now yeah, it's clear that Gotham needs a protector,
04:22but given that Dick has been protecting it since he was in green boy shorts,
04:25it probably seems only fair that someone else takes one for the team,
04:28or at the very least, that he at least gets to choose to,
04:30instead of Batman volunteering him for the pointy-eared death sentence.
04:37While many, many comics pay tribute to the fact that Jason Todd's death
04:40was a large event in Batman's life that he gave many, many monologues over,
04:44it's also worth noting that when Jason did come back to life,
04:46it was Batman's duty both as his mentor and his legal guardian
04:50to help fix his broken mental state.
04:52And yeah, again, attempts are made,
04:53but Batman basically gives up with the excuse that Jason has always had an untamable dark side.
04:58This would be fine from any other hero,
05:00but given that this is from the same man who manages to deal with not only his own inner darkness,
05:04but also the murderous instincts of his son, it is a poor excuse.
05:08This isn't to say that Batman is totally in the wrong,
05:10I mean, a large part of Jason Todd's anger could only be fixed by killing the Joker,
05:13which would of course go against the principles that made Bruce Batman.
05:16However, since Red Hood became a hero again,
05:18the two have repeatedly saved and clearly cared for each other,
05:21meaning the bad blood between them could have been patched up
05:23if the Dark Knight devoted but a second of the time that he puts into literally anything else.
05:28Number 4, Beating Him Up
05:29Almost every other comic with Batman and Robin
05:31includes a scene where the dynamic duo turn on each other.
05:34From a plot perspective, it's a great way to get fans invested,
05:36as nobody wants to see either of the heroes lose, especially at the hands of their former ally.
05:41From a logical point, however, some of these fights are sketchy as hell,
05:44as Batman has more than once hurt his wards, who are children,
05:47over some minor things such as enjoying punk music.
05:50Though his questionable behaviour was more of a problem in the Gold and Silver Ages of comics,
05:54when apparently beating your children up was only a morally grey area I guess,
05:57it's still apparent in a lot of modern comics too,
06:00meaning that we can't completely peg this weirdness on older comics as crazy shenanigans.
06:04Between fights where Robin is just trying to calm Batman down before he hurts somebody,
06:07see Batman White Knight and Superman Slash Batman as two prime examples,
06:10to Bruce basically disowning him for not supporting his paranoia
06:13in the ironically named World's Finest No. 153,
06:16all examples serve to show us that even Batman's closest allies aren't safe from his wrath.
06:21Number 3, Torturing Him
06:22There has been genuine speculation by fans that Frank Miller's all-star
06:25Batman and Robin was actually a parody comic.
06:28Although it seems unlikely to be true,
06:29there is something about watching Batman kidnap Dick Grayson,
06:32immediately put him into a life or death car chase,
06:34and then trap him in the Batcave, making him eat rats to survive,
06:38that makes you hope that yeah, maybe that's true.
06:40As it stands, it's not sadly,
06:42and so the treatment of Robin in the series is possibly the worst thing within it.
06:45Which is impressive when you remember that this is the comic
06:47where one of Joker's minions has literal swastikas tattooed on her literal breasts.
06:52Oh my lord, what a sentence. Comics are weird.
06:55Worse yet, Robin is still 10 in this series,
06:57and so every awful thing done to him is being done to a boy
07:00who is just old enough to learn to tie his shoelaces.
07:03All this in mind, it makes complete sense that in this comic,
07:05the Justice League are actually after Batman,
07:07and we can only hope child protective services are as well.
07:10Number 2, Blowing Him Up
07:12Batman Odyssey is one of the weirder Batman comics to date,
07:15containing a man who can turn into bees, several domesticated dinosaurs,
07:19and a wizard who speaks in 1940s slang, today in but a few parts of the Wild Read.
07:24Let me put it this way,
07:24if you've ever wanted to see Batman unironically use the phrase Jazz Magician,
07:28then now is your time to shine.
07:29It's entirely possible that this comic was written by just picking words out of a hat,
07:33and making them into a story,
07:35which is the only logical way that the writers would have Batman
07:38knowingly kill Robin in an explosion,
07:40and then feel literally zero remorse for it afterwards.
07:43Honestly, the whole interaction is absolutely hilarious,
07:45as the speed with which Batman goes for the detonation button
07:48makes you wonder if he'd just been looking for any excuse
07:51to get rid of his ward up until now.
07:53Robin appearing in the next issue doesn't even excuse this by the way,
07:56as he literally states that he wasn't sure if Batman would blow the place up
07:59before he could escape,
08:00showing us that the fact that he isn't dead is more down to lucky timing than anything else.
08:04Number 1, Making The Role Of Robin
08:07Although the physical and psychological damage carried out on various Robins over the years
08:10has at points been downright abusive,
08:12the worst thing Batman has ever done to any of them
08:14has been the one thing that he can't prevent,
08:16namely, from taking the role of Robin.
08:18While many storylines have shown that practically every Robin
08:20would continue to fight crime without the Caped Crusader's consent,
08:23even this is his fault for creating the role in the first place.
08:26Now yeah, Batman does want them,
08:27but it's in a sort of classic brooding manner
08:29that actually makes the whole thing look a lot cooler than it did in the first place.
08:33Every Robin does a good job in their role,
08:34but at the end of the day, they're still kids and teenagers
08:37who are essentially becoming child soldiers,
08:39and Batman, despite the fact that he knows they'll get hurt, doesn't stop them.
08:43Essentially, Batman has convinced a series of children to fight convicted serial killers,
08:46and while yeah, they may be good at it,
08:48you can't help but think that people who aren't old enough to drive
08:51shouldn't be placed in intensely dangerous situations,
08:53all because a man with parent issues and a cool cape has decided that they're ready.
08:58So that's our list. I want to know what you guys think down in the comments below.
09:00Are there any other crazy Batman and Robin moments I missed off here?
09:03And while you're down there, could you please give us a like, share, subscribe,
09:05and head over to WhatCulture Comics for more lists like this on the regular.
09:08Even if you don't though, I've been Josh, thanks so much for watching, and I'll see you soon.