When Batman first introduced Robin to the life of a vigilante, it was clear from the very beginning that he was training his possible replacement — someone who could continue Batman’s mission to protect Gotham City from crime and meanness. However, in one of his first adventures, Batman reveals that although he wants Robin to become his main defender of Gotham, he does not want his young ward to do it like Batman.
Batman’s first Robin, Dick Grayson, first appeared as Batman’s loyal sidekick in Detective Comics #38 by Bill Finger, Jerry Robinson and Bob Kane. The episode tells how Dick’s family—circus performers known as the “Flying Graysons”—were killed for not succumbing to participation in organized crime in Gotham. After losing everyone he loved, Dick Grayson was adopted by Bruce Wayne, who told Dick about his alter ego, Batman, and inspired him to lead a vigilante lifestyle, turning Dick Grayson into Robin, the Boy Wonder.
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In Batman #101 by Edmond Hamilton and Sheldon Moldoff, Batman has gone missing, and Robin is forced to become the only hero left in Gotham with the skills and desire to destroy any criminal element that might try to rise up in Batman. absence. While many criminals laughed at Wonder Boy’s attempts to destroy them, they quickly realized that Robin was a force to be reckoned with in his own right-a hero who proved himself worthy of the title of Gotham’s protagonist.
When the Caped Crusader went missing and Robin took Batman’s place, he didn’t act like Batman as some might expect. Despite the fact that Batman disappeared from the scene only for a short time, Robin and Gotham were completely distracted from the symbol of fear that Batman tried so hard to instill in his enemies. Instead of a bat signal, GCPD used a new Robin signal that illuminated its logo in the night sky instead of the iconic fear-inducing bat. In addition, Robin himself began using cars of his own brand, including “Robin-mobile” and “Robin-airplane”. This shift of emphasis from Batman to Robin at each level suggests that Batman always planned for Robin to remain Robin when Bruce Wayne ceased to be Batman, rather than assume the mantle of Batman himself with all the accessories necessary to fully fulfill this role.
While Batman has been recruiting many more Robins throughout his career, all of which move on to other vigilante personalities, including Dick Grayson himself, who eventually becomes Nightwing, this problem indicates that he never intended to have another ward other than Dick, and that he hoped that Dick will remain Robin even after Bruce stops being Batman. Even though handing over the Batman title would presumably be a more appropriate action after Bruce’s retirement, given all the work he did to create the Batman character in Gotham, it seems that the Batman moniker should always have retired along with Bruce Wayne and the Robin title should always have become something more than just the name of Batman’s sidekick, but to become a natural evolution of heroism in Gotham City.
