We Are Robin is a DC Comics series written by Lee Bermejo and drawn by Rob Haynes and Khary Randolph.
In the wake of the events of Batman: Endgame, Duke Thomas became separated from his parents, and now searches the city for them. During his search he stumbles across "We Are Robin," a collective of teenagers inspired by the Bat-Family, and is recruited to join them.
This sets Duke on his own path toward heroism, as well as puts him in all kinds of danger, that of which he was somewhat reluctant to participate in at first but that he embraces full force and with pride before long.
Along with Duke Thomas, the core group of Robins the story focuses on are as follows:
- Riko Sheridan: An Asian-American girl who chose to become a Robin in large part due to her adulation toward Batgirl. She's Happily Adopted by the Sheridan family after losing her birth parents when she was still an infant. Outside her Robin life, she's a strange mix of being an overachiever and an underachiever; though her grade point average is 4.2 and despite having had more than one extracurricular school activity, including a marching band as a freshman and also being a drama student, she suffers from performer's anxiety that causes her to under-perform or avoid performing at all. Her online username is "R-iko".
- Andre 'Dre' Cipirani: One of the most cynical and jaded of the group, if not the the most cynical and jaded, Dre became a Robin as a means of gaining some form of control in a life that he would otherwise define as sucking. That, and as a form of righteous venting of his anger issues. Though he tries to guard it, Dre's father was very much working for the Maroni Family before the Falcones killed him when he was just 8, setting the tone for the darkness he harbors as a teen. His online username is "Dre-B-Robbin".
- Isabella 'Izzy' Ortiz: Probably the second-most cynical and jaded of the group, behind Dre and rivaling Duke on his worst days, Izzy is also arguably one of the most sympathetic, also rivaling Duke. Bright, but street wise and very much tough as nails, when she's not Robin-ing, she works part-time at a very urban diner. Like Dre and most of the other Robins, she became one as a means of grasping a form of control in her chaotic life. Accosted and beaten up for refusing to join a local gang by her once-time "friends", her biggest hang-up is the fact that her mother is utterly in denial about and a complete apologist toward her older brother Hector, who leads a gang and is very much abusive toward his headstrong younger sister. Her online username is "Robina".
- Daxton 'Dax' Chill: Dax could be argued to have the worst home life, what with his father not in the picture and his mother a chronic alcoholic, possibly rivaled with Duke at the time of this story, where he's in social services' care. However, despite that and the most delinquent looking appearance of the bunch, due to his punk rocker choice in style, Dax follows the adage of not judging a book by its cover. He has two sides to him; his more rougher side is the one he shows to most of the world, highlighted by his school problems, both attendance and disciplinary related, and being fight prone. On the other hand, inside, he's probably one of the most virtuous of the group. He is a fervent believer in the Power of Friendship, and is very loyal and supportive of those he considers his friends, especially Dre. He'll even becomes the tension-breaker if a situation warrants it. Aside from perhaps Troy, Dax became a Robin for the most altruistic of reasons, and very much admires Batman and everything he stands for. His fighting style is more urban than most of the other Robins, sans maybe Duke at this point in time. Last but not least, despite his general lack of drive for academic pursuits, he's a very obviously passionate individual with regards to his likes, one of them being automotive engineering.
This series contains examples of:
- Affirmative-Action Legacy: One of the most notable things about this team of Robins is that many of them belong to minority groups (Duke is African-American, Riko is Japanese-American, Isabella is Puerto-Rican-American, Dre is Italian-American.) This is Lampshaded in Superheavy, when one of the Penguin's thugs notes the apparent novelty of a black Robin after seeing Duke.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: As both an arrogant and abrasive individual who is a practitioner in boxing and mixed martial arts, Dre tends to fall into this Trope at times.
- Ascended Fanboy: Riko Sheridan is a huge fan of Batgirl, which is what inspired her to become a Robin.
- Black and Nerdy: Though it isn't a facet showcased in the series, due to the overall tone of it, it is made mention by Duke in narration that he once aspired to be a paleontologist.
- Broken Bird: Almost all of the core Robins are broken to some extent, but the most obvious case goes to Isabella. That Izzy's mom admonishes her despite being a hard working young lady while praising and flat out ignoring her gang-leading wretch of a son's bad actions and outright physical abuse of her own daughter causes no end of due angst for Izzy.
- Child Prodigy: Duke is a good student, to the point where, during Zero Year, he was prepared to take the Riddler's challenge to devise a riddle that he could not solve.
- Dre is noted to have been a prodigy with playing the piano when he was a kid. However, he stopped doing so after his father died.
- Collective Identity: As the series title suggests, the Robin moniker is shared by the protagonists, as well as every other teen in the movement.
- Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: Riko was visually based on Zoe Flood, a half-Asian model James Harvey is a fan of.
- Depending on the Artist: Duke's hairstyle changes based on who's drawing him. Sometimes, his hair's cut buzz, other times it's short but long enough to see a bit of a natural (in the past in Zero Year, it was kinda curly/stringy). Sometimes it has waves or zigzag patterns on the side, sometimes not.
- Throughout his tenure, Dre's hair has shown to be either black or a dark brown, and his eyes have gone from blue to brown and back, too. That he tends to be shadowed within the hood of his duster doesn't help at times, either.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Dre has issues with this outside being a Robin, but everyone in the group hates it when they are looked down upon for any reason.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Dre is very abrasive, cynical, and quick to anger. Dax seems to be the one to try and cool him down whenever he gets riled, with mixed results.
- Hidden Depths: Most of the main cast have them to various extents. Dre, for example, is not only interested in boxing and mixed-martial arts as a hobby, explaining his familiar use with his tonfa, but he's also into true crime novels and forensic science, he likes to cook, and was a prodigy pianist when he was a kid. In addition, it's noted that he could excel at math if he had the drive to do so.
- In addition to kung fu san zoo and wing chu martial arts training, Rika's hobbies include sewing and costume designing, reading manga and watching anime, listening to music, and even singing, but only in her room where no one else can hear.
- Not only does Isabella partake in Judo and kickboxing, she's also into gymnastics and singing, and that's on top of being bilingual and studying French and Latin. Plus, since she works part-time, she's shown to be a very capable and responsible teen.
- Dax is a good example of not judging books by their covers. He's a really skilled mechanic despite his youth and lack of drive in his school life, and is very much into motor cross and NASCAR. He plays, albeit badly, and has even been a member of 2 different bands, though his discipline did quite extend enough for him to stay in those bands, leaving the first and causing the second to disband due to "physical disagreements". Most of all, he's a very naturally altruistic person, who very much believes in the ideals of Batman and the Power of Friendship. Of note, though he was paired with Red Hood during Robin War, he's noted to abstain from the use of guns.
- Irony: Dax was associated with Jason during the Robin War crossover, but it's later revealed that Dax abides by the same 'no guns' policy as the rest of the Bat-Family. Dax's full name is also Daxton Chill, and it was because of his father—heavily implied to be Joe Chill—that he is strongly against the use of guns.
- Happily Adopted: Riko lost her biological parents in a car accident, but was adopted by the Sheridan family.
- Series Continuity Error: Duke's character arc post-Robin War gets hit with this hard due to Batman: Superheavy happening at the same time and featuring Duke heavily. Post-Robin War has Duke walk away from the movement after the city turned on them, while in Superheavy, Duke is still in costume with an added helmet and zero references made to Robin War. Perhaps the most jarring, however, was that the same event gets depicted again across the two books, with WAR's version preceding Batman's. Duke finally finds his parents in a rundown insane asylum, but while it's treated as a brief Hope Spot in WAR, in Superheavy it's a point of despair.
- Social Services Does Not Exist: Subverted; Contrary to popular belief, Gotham City does have a Social Services department, but it's shown to be over-tasked.
- Spicy Latina: Isabella can be this when pushed to anger, especially when it comes to dealing with her Jerkass older brother Hector.
- 10-Minute Retirement: Duke and Izzy both turn their backs on the movement after Robin War. Naturally it doesn't last.
- The Knights Who Say "Squee!": Despite being a serious Robin, even through her periods of doubt, she all but squees when she gets to team up with Batgirl.
- The Quincy Punk: Toned down appearance-wise for Dax. Attitude-wise, it somewhat depends on who he's around, as he's shown to be an upstanding kind of guy around his friends and even some strangers.
- Tranquil Fury: Since he's often pensive, even when he fights, his anger often takes this form. It's made rather clear that brawls to vent his frustrations.
- Voice with an Internet Connection: The Nest, which coordinates the Robins' actions. Shug-R assumes this role for the Robins in general, especially those unconnected to the Nest.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: That he used to play the piano when he was younger but stopped once his father died implies that he was a lot more well-adjusted back then.
