A Wayne will rise...and a Wayne will fall.
Batman vs. Robin is a 2022-2023 five-issue mini-series released by DC Comics. It is a continuation of stories spinning out of Robin (2021) and Batman/Superman: World's Finest. It is written by Mark Waid.
Following the events of Shadow War, Damian Wayne sought out to claim Lazarus Island and the legacy left behind by his (currently) late grandfather Ra's al Ghul. However, in doing so, he's accidentally awoken something much more fearsome - the demon Nezha, whom Batman, Robin (Dick Grayson), Superman, Supergirl and the Doom Patrol sealed away years earlier after his last escape. Possessed by this monster, Damian has declared war on all magic as well. Now Batman must fight his own son, not only to save him, but also to save magic and the DC Universe.
The series will spin-off into a series of one-shots known as Lazarus Planet, where the world is showered in Lazarus Resin. Following its conclusion, Joshua Williamson and Simone De Mio will be relaunching a new Batman and Robin (2023) in September 2023.
This has no connection to the animated movie of the same name.
Tropes Featured in this event:
- Arc Welding: Waid merges the Nezha storyline from his opening arc on World's Finest with the Lazarus Island story threads from Joshua Williamson's Robin run and additional elements from Gene Luen Yang's Monkey Prince. Waid has confirmed he was in close communication with
Williamson
and Yang to ensure their mutual story threads all neatly dovetailed into this event.- Waid's also revealed that the Arc Welding with Monkey Prince came about almost completely by accident. By sheer coincidence, both he and Yang were dealing with the same elements of Chinese mythology (albeit from different angles) at the exact same time in their monthly books — and without either one of them knowing it. Once they realized the mythological synchronicity, however, Waid and Yang saw the opportunity to forge stronger links between the books and have both of them build towards Batman vs. Robin and Lazarus Planet.
- Waid's also revealed
- Back from the Dead: Though spoiled by preview pages, Alfred Pennyworth is revived thanks to Damian's meddling.
- Bluff the Imposter: Issue #3 reveals Bruce was doing this throughout the previous two issues with 'Alfred'. He knew within a few minutes this wasn't the real deal and 'Alfred' kept failing the tests (such as a reference to Riddler's Labyrinth — an incident which never happened).
- The Bus Came Back: One of Damian's allies is Tim Hunter of The Books of Magic, another Vertigo title making the jump back to the DC Universe proper. Issue #2 reintroduces Cain, Abel, the Fates and the House of Secrets.
- Calling the Old Man Out: In issue #3, the Brainwashed and Crazy Tim, Stephanie, Jason and Dick all tear into Bruce for the things he did - quickly replacing Tim with Damian once he came into the scene, his Jerkass treatment of Stephanie prior to Batman: War Games, his refusal to find and save Jason and taking Dick away from the circus to be Robin.
- Feed the Mole: Once Bruce realizes 'Alfred' is a spy, he plays along to avoid prematurely alerting Nezha that his 'inside man' had been compromised. He finally drops it once they've reached Lazarus Island, as there's no longer any point in maintaining the pretense — and to send a message to Nezha that the Bat is coming for him.
- Grand Theft Me: At the end of Lazarus Planet, Nezha fully possessed Batman and, at the start of issue #5, intends on fully bonding with him.
- Heel Realization: Bruce comes to realize that all of his former sidekicks are telling the truth on how he treated them - he should have handled Damian and Tim much better, that he ultimately didn't train Steph right, that he was terrified of knowing Jason (and by extension, him) became one of the "cowardly lot", and that he did steal Dick away from his spotlight, no matter how well-intentioned it was. However, he realises that these feelings are being escalated by the Sword of Sin, currently being wielded by Nightwing, helping him push these aside for the moment.
- Heroic Sacrifice: To save Batman, Damian intends on giving up his life to revive Batman once they banish Nezha from it, but the damage done is way too much. Instead, Damian convinces all of Gotham to sacrifice a little bit of themselves to help revive Batman.
- Internal Reveal: Issue #2 has Batman learn about the events of Robin (2021).
- My God, What Have I Done?: When Bruce uses Alfred as a Human Shield to block a sword stab from Dick, it frees him from Nezha's influence and reveals that Alfred before him was just a small sliver of his soul. Bruce is horrified he just killed his surrogate father, but Alfred tells him that isn't the case at all — he wasn't even alive to begin with.
- Neck Snap: Zatanna suffers this when her magic is taken over and she is forced to "FLESRUOY GNAH". She luckily does so with a noose that leaves the wearer both alive and dead, enabling her to explain to Batman.
- Non-Indicative Name: It's lampshaded that Jinx has Elemental Powers instead of bad luck powers.
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore: Issue #5 reveals that the events of Lazarus Planet have also completely drained all of the Lazarus Resin, so there's no way anyone can be revived using that method.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Nezha in the interim since Bruce and Clark sealed him back in his cage years ago in Waid's inaugural World's Finest arc...until Damian accidentally released him again in the Present Day.
- Series Continuity Error: When the Robins' own personal demons involving Bruce are used to turn them against him, Tim mentions Bruce replacing him with Damian... which Bruce never did. It was Dick who fired Tim as Robin to give Damian the role. When Bruce did have Damian as his Robin, it was Tim who was going out of his way to work on his own, and after that, Bruce did take Tim back on as his partner.
- The Reveal: Issue #2 shows how Damian freed Nezha.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Issue #3 suggests that Nezha is actually gathering as much magic as possible so he can turn humanity and its 8 billion+ into an army to battle his own son.
- Wham Shot:
- The first issue ends with Nezha with Mother Soul, the former holding various trinkets from fallen magic users like the Helmet of Nabu, Shazam's cape, Alan Scott's Lantern and Detective Chimp's cap.
- Issue #2 ends with Alfred with his shadow resembling Nezha.
