Though Bruce Wayne has taken on many proteges on in his time as the Dark Knight, there are perhaps no two Robins more similar to him than Tim Drake and his son Damian Wayne. While Tim is intelligent, patient, prepared and self-educated, Damian has been training for his entire life to be more and more like his father than anyone else on the face of the Earth.
However, which of these two young heroes has managed to live up to the title of Robin? And Which of them has managed to become the better hero in his own right?
10 Level Headed - Tim
Tim, perhaps more than any other person to have donned the mantle of Robin, is very much like Bruce Wayne. And that’s saying something considering his own son would eventually go on to take the mantle of Robin from Tim.
Tim is incredibly capable when it comes to being a crimefighter, but most importantly, he’s able to keep a leveled head even in moments of great distress. He’s able to keep himself calm, formulate a plan, and make sure that he doesn’t become overwhelmed by any situation he finds himself in. Something that Damian could possibly learn from.
9 Legitimate Heir To The Bat - Damian
If there is anyone that was ever born to become Robin, and perhaps even take over the mantle of Batman, then it’s Damian. Though Damian still has a lot of growing and maturing to do, as Bruce Wayne’s biological son, Damian has a certain birthright when it comes to Batman’s legacy.
While there have been alternate realities where Damian has taken on the mantle of the Bat and caused serious trouble for Gotham and the world at large, with Bruce’s help, and the help of the other heroes that surround him, Damian may yet make a worthy successor.
8 Tech Prowess - Tim
Not only is Tim incredibly intelligent, but he knows exactly how to use his intelligence in ways that would best serve his life as a crimefighter. One of Tim’s many skills as a crimefighter comes from his incredible understanding of the technology that surrounds him.
Not only is Tim incredibly gifted when it comes to computer sciences, but he’s also a very adept hacker. While Damian has spent a lifetime training in many different disciplines, there are very few people in the DC landscape as technically savvy as Tim Drake.
7 A Student Of Many Disciplines - Damian
According to Damian, he is lightyears ahead of any of the other Robins during their time donning the mantle. Damian, having been trained by his mother, Talia al Ghul and the League of Shadows, may actually be right. He is both a master martial artist and a master assassin.
Though he has been taught that he should never kill by Batman, Damian is willing to take a life should he deem it absolutely necessary. While he does have that killer instinct, Damian has also learned many lessons from his father, which has gone a long way to making him a very well-rounded warrior.
6 Brilliant Strategist - Tim
Though Damian has been shown to have an IQ that rivals that of Batman himself, Tim is perhaps the only Robin, and maybe one of the only people in the DC landscape, that is more intellectually capable than the dark knight himself. Even Batman had to admit that Tim is likely more intelligent than him, which is big praise coming from the man himself.
Not only was Tim able to deduce the identity of The Bat himself, before ever putting on the mask, but he’s also correctly deduced the identity of heroes like The Flash and Superman as well. He’s even earned the title of “Detective” from Ra’s al Ghul himself, a title which he had previously reserved only for Batman.
5 Lifetime Of Training - Damian
While Tim is likely the most intelligent member of the Bat-family (yes, including Batman himself) that intelligence wouldn’t serve him very well without the immense training that he put himself through before ever contacting Batman. However, though Tim trained himself both physically and mentally before his time with the Bat, it comes nowhere close to the level of training that Damian had endured from a very young age.
Born into the League of Shadows, Damian was, perhaps, the most skilled Robin to have ever donned the mask when he started. In fact, Damian was the only Robin allowed to have a hooded costume due to the fact that he had proved himself capable of fighting without the ability to see his opponents.
4 A Better Leader - Tim
Damian is many things that make up a capable and dependable hero, but a great leader he is not. Though he (re)formed the Teen Titans, even Damian had to admit that Tim was a better fit for the role of their leader.
Tim is not only brilliant, but he’s not a conceited and abrasive genius the way that Damian (and his father for that matter) can be. It’s difficult to become a truly capable leader when one is so transfixed on proving that not only are they smarter than everyone else, but their plans are the only ones that even need to be heard.
3 Beat Death - Damian
Though Jason Todd previously had a monopoly on being the only Robin to have successfully beaten death, that fact has changed more recently. After going up toe-to-toe against a villain called The Heretic (a clone of Damian’s that had reached adulthood), Damian loses his life while trying to put an end to the villain.
While Batman is desperate to save his child, he finds that his body has been stolen by none other than Ra’s al Ghul who hopes to resurrect his grandchild and induct him back into the League of Shadows. Much to Ra’s’ chagrin, the Lazarus pit has no effect on Damian. Batman eventually finds a way to resurrect Damian using a chaos shard after fighting to get his body back from Apokolips. Comics, man.
2 Much More Aligned With Batman - Tim
Damian may, in fact, be Batman’s legitimate, biological son, but his training with the League of Shadows has instilled in Damian a killer’s instinct that, to this day, is still hard for him to ignore. Much like Jason, Damian often views Batman’s work and his rules as a half-measure, actions that serve to only delay tragedies rather than ceasing them entirely.
On the other hand, however, Tim carries an almost entirely opposite belief. In fact, the only reason he stepped in and made contact with Batman in the first place is that he noticed that Batman was becoming too harsh and losing control in his interactions with the criminals of Gotham.
1 Willing To Make The Tough Decisions - Damian
While Tim may be much more aligned with the philosophies that Batman has taught each and every one of his young proteges, Damian, as previously mentioned, was instilled with a killer’s instinct from a very young age. This killer’s instinct makes him capable of making calls that not even Batman himself would make.
While the heroes of the DC universe have a very specific set of rules regarding taking life, Damian understands the fact that there are certain people that simply cannot be permitted to live any longer. Batman may not agree with these types of choices, but it’s hard to argue the number of lives that could have been saved had villains like Joker not been allowed to continue living.