Joshua Willaimson’s creative run on the Dynamic Duo’s current ongoing series ended with Batman and Robin #13. To put a big statemen on the conclusion of his year-long run, Williamson had Damian Wayne confront the person who has had the greatest impact in his life the last few years: Bane. During the “City of Bane” storyline Bane forced the young Robin to watch him kill Alfred Pennyworth. The traumatic event is something Damian has carried with him for years. This led to major developments for both Damian Wayne and Bane.
HOW IS BANE ALIVE AFTER A-DAY?
One of the major storylines that kicked off the Infinite Frontier direction for DC Comics was the supposed attack by Joker on Arkham Asylum, an event known as A-Day. During A-Day Joker seemingly got his personal revenge on Bane by killing him with an extreme dose of Joker toxin. The truth about Bane’s supposed death was later revealed to be not be caused by Joker. This is something Joker himself to Jim Gordon, as he stated while he hated Bane for how he killed Alfred Pennyworth in front of Damian rather than Bruce, he didn’t cause A-Day. We know from the Magistrate takeover in Fear State that it was in fact the Peacekeepers who used Joker to take the blame for A-Day.
So how is Bane around in Batman & Robin #13 if his body was found overdosed by Joker toxin?
The answer was the usual death trope cheat card that it was a body double found in Bane’s place. Thanks to her plan to get revenge on an organization manufacturing new villains by splicing the DNA of classic DC villains for destroying her family’s life Cressida Clarke recruited Bane to help her. Using her resources Cressida easily planted a body double and had Bane help her in her grand plan. The full information for this and how things turned out is all revealed in the 2022 release of Joker #15.
After all of this Bane was able to make it out of the story with Jim Gordon, Joker, and the Court of Owls with his clone/daughter Vengeance. Since then, Bane largely stayed in hiding with only Batman, Jim Gordon, and Joker knowing that was still alive. That all set-up the big showdown that Joshua Williamson told for the final story arc in his Batman and Robin story arc.
BANE VS ROBIN FINAL SHOWDOWN
After stopping the Super Man-Bat and Mistress Harsh with his father and Flatline, Damian Wayne got the news from Nobody, aka Maya Ducard, that she found out Bane was alive and where he was. While this was not news for Bruce, since he knew about Bane’s faked death, this was certainly new information for Damian. It was something that Damian already suspected as he had Maya investigate Bane’s death. Maya investigation led to finding out that Bane had made a home for himself on Dinosaur Island alongside Vengeance.
One to support his son Bruce followed Damian to Dinosaur Island, also to make sure his son didn’t do something rash and got himself killed at the hands of Bane. Once they got there Robin got into an intense fight with Bane while Batman faced off against Vengeance. On the Robin vs Bane front, Damian made full use of the forest setting to his advantage and get in position to break Bane’s leg. When given the chance to get revenge for Alfred, Robin ultimately chose not to kill Bane.
Though that decision was complicated when Batman discovered that Bane and Vengeance where teaming up with Kobra to develop an enhanced version of Venom. While Vengeance revealed she and her father stopped Kobra from distributing the new Venom she also didn’t want the secret to get out so she got Robin to go berserk by injecting him with Venom. Batman quickly was able to get through to his berserk son and get him back to normal. Bane would then let himself be taken in by the Dynamic Duo while making sure his daughter got away safely.
DAMIAN WAYNE TAKES A STEP FORWARD
Finally getting the chance to confront his greatest demon Damian Wayne got the chance to take a step forward. If the Robin that Bane fought was the one that originally debuted way back in Batman #655 there is no doubt he would’ve killed Bane. The guilt and trauma of being forced to witness Alfred being killed in front of him is something Damian has carried since it happened. And going into this fight Damian certainly appeared to go in with the killer intent. We even saw that throughout the fight as Damian did not hold back in returning to his brutal way of fighting in order to defeat Bane.
This all made Damian’s ultimate decision to not kill Bane show how far he has come as a character. He is no longer the killer that Ra’s Al Ghul had Talia raise her to be as his possible successor. Damian has come to understand what crossing that line would mean for himself. It would’ve not only made him return to who he was forced to be by his grandfather but go against what Alfred would want him to do. It once again highlights the positive influence Alfred is to the Batman Family that because he was around at such an important point in his life that Damian really took in his adopted grandfather’s teachings to heart.
Damian making this choice also further showcases the impact being part of the Batman Family truly has on everyone. As we see with how Bruce got his son to calm down after being injected by the enhanced Venom formula the Batman Family has become a support system. They’ve been through plenty of their issues but right now are at a point where they are there for each other.
This support system was key to Joshua Williamson’s year long run on Batman and Robin. He put in the work to show that Bruce and Damian are truly ready to not only be the Dynamic Duo together but also have a true father-son relationship. There is an honesty that Williamson has injected into Bruce and Damian’s relationship now that wasn’t there before. And if that is Williamson’s lasting mark on the Batman franchise than it was certainly a big one to leave.
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