Though Bruce Wayne has tried to raise his proteges with a strict moral code and an unbreakable golden rule, no killing, there are two among his young sidekicks that have played rather fast and loose when it comes to his no-killing rule, Jason Todd and Damian Wayne. Though Damian was born into the League of Shadows and raised a killer, he would eventually grow out of it and become more in tune with his father’s example.
Jason, however, was raised in the tradition of The Bat, but after a crowbar appetizer followed by an explosive entree and a Lazarus pit bath, Jason was less than thrilled about the lack of a lasting solution to the villains that plague the world. Which of these young men managed to live up to the title of Robin? And which has become the better hero?
10 Combat Skills - Jason
Damian may have had a literal lifetime of training under his belt, but Jason is widely regarded as one of the greatest martial artists in the DC Comics landscape. During Event Leviathan, even Damian had to admit that Jason Todd is one of the great master fighters of all time.
After his resurrection, Jason traveled the world and, much like Bruce, learned every martial art style that he came in contact with. He has trained under the likes of Lady Shiva, Bronze Tiger, and All Caste, and is considered to be their greatest pupil.
9 Redeemed Himself - Damian
Though Damian began his career as a warrior within the League of Shadows, killing those the league decided needed to be killed, hunting those that needed to be hunted, he has become much more like his father since coming into his custody.
While Damian originally had a hard time understanding why exactly his father chose to spare the lives of the criminals that he came in contact with, the young heir of the bat slowly but surely began to understand his father’s message and code.
8 Expert Marksman - Jason
While Jason managed to match Bruce’s ambitions when it came to traveling across the globe and learning every martial art form that he came into contact with, he exceeded Bruce’s ambitions when it came to marksmanship.
Though Bruce has trained him to be an expert marksman with projectiles like batarangs, for more lethal weapons Jason would travel the world to find teachers who could train him to kill a target with many different types of guns. Jason is so proficient with guns that his accuracy is almost on par with that of Deadshot.
7 Lifetime Of Training - Damian
Damian may be much younger than Jason, but during his short life, he has spent nearly as much time training to fight and kill as Jason has himself. Raised in the League of Shadows, Damian spent his early years learning everything there was to learn about taking down an opponent by any means necessary.
While Jason wasn’t picked up and trained by Batman until he was an adolescent, Damian has rarely spent a day of his entire life without training with either the league or Batman himself.
6 Bested The Bat - Jason
While Damian has spent an entire lifetime training to take down an opponent by any means necessary, there is one feat that Damian, along with many, many others just can't do - taking down the Bat.
After his resurrection and subsequent return to Gotham, not only was Jason able to outwit the dark knight on his home field, but he was also able to fight both Batman and Nightwing to a standstill. Just another feat that marks how extremely proficient of a martial artist Jason is.
5 Beat Death (Without A Lazarus Pit) - Damian
Damian and Jason actually have a lot in common in terms of their personality. In fact, they’re likely the most similar pair when it comes to the young men that have taken up the mantle of Robin. They’re both more than okay with killing should they deem it a necessity. They’re both arrogant and accomplished warriors.
And they’ve both been killing and miraculously resurrected afterward. While Jason needed the help of a Lazarus pit in order to come back to life, Damian skipped that whole process, was resurrected by a Chaos Shard and even got some cool new superpowers to boot.
4 Carved Out His Own Path - Jason
Damian may have started out as a cold-blooded killer trained by the League of Shadows, but after coming into contact with his father, Damian became much more (though not entirely) in tune with his father’s way of doing things. Jason, on the other, had already learned the lessons that Batman strove to teach his young wards, and even after that Jason decided that Batman just wasn’t taking care of business the way he should be.
After his resurrection, Jason decided to carve out his own path, separate from Batmans’. A path without all the rules that came with being Batman’s protege, but one that would hopefully still accomplish good.
3 Legitimate Heir Of The Bat - Damian
Over the years, Batman has picked up many, many proteges to help him with his endless battle to clean up the streets of Gotham. Though he has picked up some incredibly talented, intelligent and worthy wards throughout his time as the Bat, only Damian can claim the title of Heir of The Bat.
Being Batman’s only biological son (with the exception of Terry McGinnis through a very weird conspiracy involving the genetic manipulation of reproductive organs, nanotech, and Amanda Waller), Damian has the most legitimate claim to the mantle should he ever mature enough to accept the burden that comes along with it.
2 Combat Prowess - Jason
As previously mentioned, Damian and Jason actually have quite a bit in common. While both Damian and Jason have trained with Ra’s al Ghul and the League of Shadows, Jason, much like Batman, went many steps further than that.
After traveling the globe and training with some of the greatest martial artists in the DC universe (Lady Shiva, Bronze Tiger, and All Caste, to name a few) Jason is widely regarded as one of DC’s greatest martial artists, even capable of fighting Batman and Nightwing to a standstill.
1 Didn’t Let Joker Kill Him - Damian
While Damian may have actually been killed and subsequently resurrected, it almost counts as a suicide given the fact that the only person capable of taking out the young Damian, was an older clone of Damian. Jason, on the other hand, was not only taken out by a villain but clearly one of the most dangerous villains in Batman’s rogues’ gallery.
The fact that Jason was taken out by the Joker speaks volumes to how reckless he was, not only as a hero but as a person with a secret identity. Yes, he revealed his identity to his mother who then sold him out (cold-blooded), but one would think that all of that training would’ve taught him, at the very least, to know better than that.