Webcomic / Batman: Wayne Family Adventures

"Being a father can't be harder than being Batman, right?"

"Welcome to the manor, I suppose."

— Damian Wayne/Robin V

Batman: Wayne Family Adventures is a webcomic by DC Comics, the first in its planned collaboration with Webtoon, and the second webcomic (after Li'l Gotham) to focus on the Gotham Cast Herd. It is written by CRC Payne; the artists involved are StarBite (Rhett Bloom) (inks), by Maria Li (storyboards), Lan Ma (backgrounds), C.M. Cameron (flats and rendering), and Kielamel Sibal (lettering). The first three issues were released on September 8, 2021 as part of Batman Day 2021.

It is a Slice of Life Dom Com comic featuring interactions between the Batfamily, portrayed here (in contrast to their usual dysfunctional dynamic in the mainstream comics) as a vitriolic-but-loving surrogate family of vigilantes who work hard under the tutelage of their mentor, Batman, to keep Gotham City safe.

In addition to Bruce Wayne/ Batman and his loyal butler Alfred Pennyworth, the main cast includes Duke Thomas (The Signal), Damian Wayne (Robin), Tim Drake (Red Robin), Cassandra Cain (Orphan), Jason Todd (Red Hood), Barbara Gordon (Oracle), Stephanie Brown (Spoiler), and Dick Grayson (Nightwing).

The comic can be read for free here and is updated on Thursdays.

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Tropes in this webcomic:

• 555: When Ana hands her phone number to Duke, it appears as 555-0189.
• The Ace: Cass is notably the only one who manages to land a hit on Bruce when they fight over the last cookie.
• Adaptational Heroism: Harley Quinn is traditionally depicted somewhere between an insane supervillainess to a morally gray Anti-Hero. Here she appears to be a full ally of the Batfamily, with Steph and Cass even personally watching over her as she recovers from an injury. Tying into this, Poison Ivy is introduced as a "former" Eco-Terrorist (rather than the active Eco-Terrorist and Femme Fatale she is usually written as) and Harley's loving girlfriend.
• Adaptational Modesty: Several female heroes wear slightly more modest versions of their traditional costumes (i.e. Poison Ivy wore a black leather jacket and leggings with her usual leotard, Huntress has pants, Wonder Woman's skirt is longer than in most adaptations, etc).
• Adaptational Nice Guy:
  • Jason Todd's characterization in the comics tends to vary from bitter/crazed villain to Token Evil Teammate to antiheroic jerk, and his relationship with the Batfamily is tense at the best of times. Here, his mean streak is very downplayed and played for laughs, and he's on good terms with Bruce and the other sidekick-vigilantes.
  • Talia Al-Ghul's relationship with Damian in the comics is a heavy case of Depending on the Writer, but some of her more noteworthy stories really play her up as an abusive mother who views Damian as an extension of Bruce at best and a disposable asset at worst. She's more of a case of Parents as People in here, keeping her distance from her son but wanting him to have a happy childhood.
• Adaptation Name Change: Damian's dog in the comics is traditionally named Titus. Here, he's called... Murder King. However, "Assassin" has him go by his original comic name, implying that Damian changed it.
• All Just a Dream: In "Daydreaming" ninjas invade the cave and are eaten by the T-Rex robot as a stunned Duke runs to grab his costume, only for Duke to be woken by Bruce as he'd dosed off while reviewing boring contingency plans.
• All Part of the Show" In "S'tel ees a cigam wohs", Zatanna plays off Copperhead attacking her and Nightwing (and Copperhead using a magic wand to transform Nightwing into a bunny) as this and gets Bruce to "volunteer".
• Animesque: This series wouldn't be on Webtoon if the art style didn't resemble manga.
• Arc Number: The flashback in episode 110 "Don't Be Mad" is, of course, given as "52 minutes earlier".
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Jason and Bruce have their... differences, but Jason still spends a lot of time at Wayne Manor, and Bruce sends him gear for his crimefighting.
• Back from the Dead: Mentioned and lampshaded in "Vigilante Bingo", where the Batfamily takes a tally of things they've all done. Jason asks everyone who's been murdered and brought back to life to raise their hand, which he, Cass, and Damian do while Dick is on the fence about the time his heart got stopped during his ordeal with the Crime Syndicate. Duke is understandably concerned about how nonchalant they all are about it. Jason brushes him off, saying that it happens more often than you'd think.
• Badass Normal: Lampshaded. Stephanie sports Green Arrow merchandise because she admires how he's a regular human who keeps up with his superpowered peers... in front of her mentor and father figure Bruce, who is also one.
• Bait-and-Switch: "Even the Best Detective" has Damian seeing Bruce stressed out and pacing, with a look into the Batcomputer suggesting that he's off to fight a villain. When Damian, Stephanie, Tim, and Duke see a large thing covered in a white sheet, they destroy it...only to learn that it's a romantic dinner with roses and wine Bruce was preparing for Selena. Whoops.
• Bedsheet Ladder: In "Recovery", an injured Bruce escapes his bedroom through the window with a rope of linens tied together, but Tim is there to greet him at the bottom.
• Big Ball of Violence: A great ball of screams and limbs erupts next to Bruce as the siblings fight each other for the last cookie.
• Big Word Shout:
  • "DIBS!" when there's only one of Alfred's award-winning cookies left. Cue the Fight for the Last Bite.
  • The Robins all call "SHOTGUN!" when Bruce asks which one of them is going to sit in the front passenger seat of the Batmobile. They then proceed to bicker over who gets that seat for various petty reasons. By the end, they aren't able to come to a consensus and all end up sitting in the back seat.
• Billions of Buttons: The Batmobile's dashboard is littered with dozens of unmarked buttons that do everything from firing missiles to ejecting the passenger seat. This proves troublesome in "Driving Lessons" when Duke has to take the wheel for the first time since Stephanie's arm is in a sling from a prior fight.
• Birthday Episode: "Stupid Traditions" is about Damian's birthday. Dick and Babs are keeping him company with the party setup while the rest of the family gets his present — a puppy.
• Blatant Lies: Jason is lying through his teeth when he claims that the safehouse was already trashed when he found it and Bruce knows it.
• Brains Evil, Brawn Good: Discussed in PhD. When Damian asks Harley to mention one Gothamite who got better due to undergoing higher education (arguing that he doesn't need to go to school), Harley, Steph, and Tim can only think of supervillains. Bruce still insists that Damian has to get an education.
• Brick Joke:
  • In the first issue, Damian tells Duke that the dinosaur in the Batcave eats intruders. Bruce later tells Duke that he was kidding. In issue 20, "Daydreaming", Duke daydreams that the dinosaur comes to life and eats several ninjas sneaking into the Batcave...and is disappointed when he wakes up.
  • "Not It" has Bruce mutter about how much he hates fighting Condiment King, to the point where he does everything he can to pawn the task off on his children. Evidently, his luck eventually ran out, as "Suit Up" opens with Kate having to retrieve a spare Batsuit for him after the original was ruined in a fight with— you guessed it— Condiment King.
  • "Daydreaming" ends with Duke woken from the titular daydream by Batman, who was trying to explain their emergency plans to him and decides to start over from the top with what to do if Gotham is overrun by an army of Man-Bats. "Hold the Line", sixty-five issues later, focuses on the GCPD and Batwoman dealing with Gotham being overrun by an army of Man-Bats.
• The Bus Came Back: "Ransom" has Tim being kidnapped by a trio of newbish criminals, being rescued by Jason who then proceeds to teach them how to be better at it before taking them out and saving Tim. "Stick Up" marks the return of these criminals, trying to rob a convenience store but getting quickly side-tracked by Tim's presence and Red Hood showing up.
• The Cameo:
  • Superman, Green Arrow, Wonder Woman and the Flash show up at the end of “Favoritism”.
  • Selina Kyle, Bette Kane, Luke Fox, and Harper Row have cameos in "Top Chef".
  • Conner Kent, Cassie Sandsmark and Bart Allen drop in in “Hangout”.
• Can't Tie His Tie: Played for Laughs in "S.O.S.". Youths Duke and Damian can't tie their ties for a party without Alfred on hand and turn to Bruce for help. It turns out Bruce can't do it either, and frantically winds up calling Superman and the Justice League for help. And when that doesn't work they just follow Wonder Woman's suggestion to go without ties in the end.
• Chair Reveal: Damian pulls one in "Recovery" complete with Alfred the Cat as a Right-Hand Cat.
• Chaos While They're Not Looking: In "Assassin", Bruce checks in on Duke and Damian, confirming that they're not playing paintball assassin in the manor. They deny it ("I was merely painting outside today..."), but as soon as he leaves the room, they whip out the paintball guns and point them at each other.
• Chaotic Car Ride: In "Front Seat" Dick, Jason, Tim and Damian fight over who gets to sit in the front seat of the Batmobile. They all end up crammed in the backseat, with Jason forcing his brothers into a tangled mess as he shoves them all away from his side of the car.
• Christmas Episode: "Holiday Spirit" which features Bruce's kids doing volunteer work during the holidays.
• Combat Stilettos: "High Heels" has Stephanie needing to wear stiletto heels for an undercover operation, so she enlists Selina Kyle's aid in learning how to both walk and fight in them. She ends up competing with Damian over it.
• Comical Coffee Cup: Bruce has one with "World's Okayest Father", presumably a gift from Dick or Tim.
• Conditioned to Accept Horror: The Bat siblings are all fairly nonchalant when talking about things that have happened to them in the past (i.e. being trained/raised by assassins, being orphaned, literally dying, etc). Averted with Duke, who is clearly horrified when he learns everything his surrogate siblings have been through.
• Cool House: Wayne Manor, as seen through the eyes of Audience Surrogate Duke in the first issue: it's got a laser grid and a life-sized dinosaur.
• Crazy-Prepared:
  • Per tradition, Bruce "Batman" Wayne. His list of emergency plans in "Daydreaming" is so long that Duke falls asleep going through them, though we hear that M-02 apparently is "in case Gotham is overrun by an army of Man-Bats". Sixty-five episodes later...
  • The issue "Utility Belt" shows just how prepared he is: at any given time, he keeps stun bombs, a foldable katana, bear treats, and shark repellent in his utility belt. Green Lantern is shocked not only at the fact that he keeps so many random items on him, but at the implication that he has such things because he's been in situations before where they were needed.
• Crossover: Season 2 has several crossovers with other DC-licensed Webtoon comics, with appearances from Zatanna Zatara, Mari and Grace, and Artemis and Bizarro.
• Date Peepers: In "Crush Part 2", Steph brings Tim and Damian to spy on Duke's date night. The first two are wearing Paper Thin Disguises, while Damian didn't bother and just looks annoyed.
• Deathbringer the Adorable: Damian receives a puppy for his ninth birthday and names him Murder King. Cassandra grimaces while Barbara says that's not an appropriate name for a dog. It's later shown that the dog was renamed Titus.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Stephanie's reaction to Kite Man trying to make himself her nemesis resembles a girl turning down a pushy guy's romantic advances. She even says, "No means no."
• Dom Com: Shenanigans featuring a group of surrogate siblings, their father figure, and their butler in a mansion. Oh, and said father figure is Batman.
• Double-Meaning Title: "Just Desserts" invokes how Bruce decides to bring ice cream (just desserts) in order to one-up his arch-nemesis Margie...thus giving her karma (or her just desserts)
• Dramatic Irony: In "S'tel ees a cigam wohs" Bruce gets dressed as Superman to fight Copperhead. One of the crowd members says he could be a superhero like that.
• The Dreaded:
  • In a weird way, the Condiment King. Fighting him is just plain embarrassing and you end up with your costume covered with smelly gunk.
  • The Bat kids view etiquette training this way. From what we see of it, it involves a lot of forks and being tied to chairs.
• Escalating War: In the appropriately titled "Escalation", Damian takes offense to Tim borrowing his pen without permission and retaliates by ruining his favorite mug. By the time Bruce tells them to pull the plug, Damian is covered in glitter and Tim's hair is dyed "Joker Green".
• Exact Words: Barbara recounts her day at the library (actually as Mission Control):
  • "Helped a kid with some reading": Pointing Robin towards the note Batman left, banning him from using the Batmobile because of his age, and refusing to override the controls.
  • "Helped some people find their way around": Directing Spoiler and Red Robin who ended up at the wrong bank instead of the one that was being robbed.
  • "Workout a little": Defending herself against an intruder with a bat.
• Face Palm: Duke's reaction after he finds out about his siblings spying on his date.
• Faceplanting into Food: In "Unaccompanied", Bruce recalls that he doesn't want to bring Tim to a gala because the last time he did so, Tim was so exhausted he fell asleep into his food.
• Failed a Spot Check: In "Detective Work", Stephanie rants at the Robins and Duke for allegedly eating her sandwich, which they all deny. Despite demonstrating a clear aptitude for problem and puzzle-solving, it never occurred to her to check the fridge, as Damian stashed it in there after noticing it was left out before going back to painting.
• Fantastically Indifferent: While fighting a wand-wielding Copperhead, Nightwing is turned into a (fairly adorable) bunny. He looks at himself, shrugs, then goes back to fighting.
• Faux Horrific: "The Tournament": When Barbara unveils what the loser has to do upon losing their friendly competition, we get three completely horrified reaction shots... of Nightwing's old "Discowing" costume.
• Fictional Social Network: In "Online", Barbara finds Jason's "Full Hearts" (Tinder) account.
• Fight for the Last Bite: Cass, Jason, Duke, Tim and Damian gather round for some of Alfred's baked goods and award-winning cookies. And then they notice there is only one cookie left and proceed to get into a brawl. Alfred wins.
• Friend to All Children: Every member of the Bat family is surprisingly good with kids.
  • Bruce/Batman, of course. His habit of adopting every crime-fighting orphan he meets is lampshaded by Jason.
  • Dick/Nightwing has two issues where he comforts a little girl who's recently lost her parents. He's a Cool Big Bro in general, as well, always willing to spend time with his younger siblings.
  • Jason/Red Hood. In the issue "Sneak Attack", he's helping a lost little boy get to safety, then promises to buy the kid candy if he never tells anyone that Orphan scared him.
• Frustrated Overhead Scribble: After tripping on a tire iron Jason left laying on the floor of the Batcave and having Jason make fun of him as he storms away Tim can be seen making an angry noise indicated by a tangled scribble in his speech bubble.
• Give Him a Normal Life: Well "normal" is relative, but that was Talia's rationale for leaving Damian so that he could live with Bruce. She wanted him to have a childhood, which the League of Shadows wouldn't have provided.
• Gossip Evolution: "Unbelievable" has Batman show up to Justice League HQ with his leg in a cast, which leads to the other superheroes speculating how he injured; it starts with the culprit being either The Riddler, Bane, or Killer Croc, but by the time Superman and Wonder Woman ask Batman directly, they've heard that the Joker hired Riddler and Bane to feed him to Killer Croc. Batman claims that definitely is what happened rather than admit the embarrassing truth that he accidentally fell down some stairs at Wayne Manor. Making it worse? He'd just successfully proven he can skateboard. He was on his own two feet at the time of falling.
• Graceful Loser: In "The Tournament", Steph took her punishment from losing last year pretty well, noting that she "rocked that bowler hat".
• Green-Eyed Monster: Played for Laughs in “Favoritism”. Poor Bruce is majorly jealous that his kids are toting around memorabilia of the Justice League that isn’t him.
• Handicapped Badass: In this version, Barbara uses a wheelchair and acts as Oracle, but that doesn't stop her from fending off an intruder with a bat. (In the far background of the frame revealing this, there is another intruder lying in a heap.) She later even acts as bait to take down a group of criminals targeting her father, using their assumptions that she's defenseless against them and getting them all arrested. She's also a skilled enough hacker that she can get blackmail material on Jason (something even Damian couldn't do).
• Hero Does Public Service: On Christmas all of the Batfamily members are out volunteering in Gotham. Some of them are implied to volunteer at the place they're spending Christmas regularly while it's left vague for others.
• Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Tim, Damian and Cass are very casual about being trained as assassins as children, which Duke comments is a bit concerning.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Jason not only unwittingly trips an alarm breaking into one of the safehouses for gear, he ends up staying behind to be caught because of a potty break.
• Holding Hands: While Tim and Bernard are on a date their hands bump, and Tim wants to hold his hand but thinks Bernard doesn't want to, then thinks maybe Bernard was hinting he wanted to but that the moment has passed and it would be awkward to bring up. On their next date he asks if Bernard wants to hold hands right away to avoid the awkwardness, which he does.
• Humiliating Wager: "The Tournament" has Tim, Jason, Cass and Steph compete in an annual video game match where the loser has to wear Dick's 'Discowing' costume. The previous year's contest saw Steph having to wear a Riddler costume after she lost (though she took it in stride). Dick has been banned from said tournaments because he's impossible to embarrass.
• Hurt/Comfort Fic: The two-parters tend to follow this pattern: Part 1 being the Hurt and part 2 the Comfort.
• I Can Still Fight!: One entire issue is dedicated to Bruce being confined to a few weeks of bed rest by Alfred, and trying to get down to the Batcave...only to be stopped every time by his family (with the last straw being Jason removing the wheels from all of the Bat vehicles so Bruce can't leave).
• Instantly Proven Wrong: In episode 1:
  Alfred: Why don't you let Master Damian give you a tour? He's very excited about your arrival.
  (the very next frame is Damian, looking irritated, with the caption "He's still working on his people skills.")
• Interrupted Intimacy: "TMI" has Batman and Catwoman end one of their chases with innuendo-laden banter that was clearly leading into something more... until Bruce realizes that he left his comm-link open, his family heard everything, and they have gained a serious need for Brain Bleach (except for Damian, who failed to pick up on the subtext).
• I Warned You: In "Arm Day", the guys at the gym (Jason, Damian, Dick, and Tim) hold a competition to see who can do 100 two-fingered, handstand push-ups first. Cassandra warns them beforehand that's a bad idea. At dinner, they're too exhausted to eat (probably because of muscle pain in their hands and arms). Cass gives them a "Told you".
• Last Episode, New Character: The Season 1 finale introduces Harley Quinn.
• Last-Name Basis: Damian refers to Alfred as Pennyworth.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: "Night In", the Season 1 finale, is based around Bruce taking a break from crimefighting.
• Lethal Chef:
  • Implied of Bruce — Damian tells Duke that the kitchen is Alfred's domain, and Bruce has a lifetime ban from cooking. It's later played straight when, while on the phone with Superman, Bruce almost burns the stove by making an omelet.
  • "Top Chef" shows that the rest of the Bat Family aren't exactly... well, top chefs. Their attempts to make a pie must be seen to be believed.
  • Averted in "Bad Day". With Alfred overseeing recipe quantities and cooking time, and Bruce actually concentrating on food prep rather than crime, the dinner is excellent.
• Lighter and Softer: Compared to many Batman media, which normally skew towards the grim (as they star a dysfunctional group of vigilantes who operate out of a Wretched Hive). This one is a Dom Com featuring Bruce as a loving parental figure to a group of colorful youths.
• Like Brother and Sister: Among the girls, only Cass is officially adopted by Bruce, but Steph (who at least apparently lives at the manor) and Barbara still have a sisterly dynamic with the boys. Steph moreso acts as something of a little sister to Dick, Duke, and Jason, though thanks to her history with Tim their dynamic is closer to Amicable Exes.
• Man Bites Man: Within the Big Ball of Violence for the last cookie, someone shouts, "Hey! No biting!"
• Manly Tears: Duke cries after his breakup with Ana, and is comforted by Dick and Cass without being shamed.
• Missed the Recital: The "Family Ties" two-parter sees Bruce barely miss Cassandra's dance recital after a long night of crime-fighting. He's devastated that he missed it and, after a heart-to-heart with Alfred, rents out the theater so she can have a do-over with him in the audience.
• Mission Control: Played for Laughs. Barbara acts as the traditional Mission Control to the Batfamily as Oracle (providing offsite tech support and intel) but the scenarios seen in "Eyes and Ears" are comedic: she stops Damian from driving the Batmobile since he's too young, and when Tim and Stephanie wind up at the wrong bank, she points them to the one that's actually being robbed.
• Mundane Made Awesome:
  • Bruce calls the Justice League because he can't figure out how to tie his, Duke's, and Damian's ties. Hilariously, Superman, then Flash, then Green Lantern all get in on it, all of them taking it completely seriously with Bruce growing more stressed as they need to leave soon. Finally, Wonder Woman points out that no one will say anything if they simply don't wear ties.
  • When the family comes together to make Alfred chicken soup while he's sick, Bruce treats it the same way he'd treat a sting operation, giving everyone a job based on their skill set and how mobile they are (because the entire family was injured in a fight the night before).
• Mundane Utility: Used a few times during the series by different characters:
  • In the episode "S.O.S.", Green Lantern uses his ring to create a diagram of how to tie a tie.
  • An entire episode is dedicated to Clark Kent showing Conner how to shave with heat vision. Justified because Kryptonian hair is so strong that normal razors can't cut it.
  • Tim once tried to use the Bat computer so he, Wonder Girl, Connor, and Kid Flash could watch a movie. They got caught by Bruce.
  • Cassandra is able to use her Sherlock Scan to not only figure out weak points in villains, but also to smoke the truth out of her foster siblings when they try to keep secrets from her.
  • "Snowfall (Part 2)" ends with Bruce breaking out the Thrasher suit so that he can win the snowball fight.
• Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Parodied in "PhD", where Damian attempts to argue that because so many of the Batfamily's Rogues Gallery hold doctorate-level degrees, education is bad and he doesn't need to go to school. Bruce will have none of it.
• Mythology Gag: Has its own page.
• No-Damage Run: In "The Last Cookie", it’s revealed that if no one gets hurt, Alfred bakes sweets.
• Noodle Incident:
  • It's revealed in "Vigilante Bingo" that all Bat kids before Duke have pranked Bruce at least once. Apparently, one such incident involved swapping his smoke bombs with glitter bombs.
  • "Driving Lessons" reveals that crew don't fire missiles in the Batcave anymore. And during Steph's first test drive she almost took down a building.
  • "Utility Belt" shows Batman pulling various items out of his belt that always happen to be exactly what he needs, implying that he's been in situations before where those things would have been useful. The katana and stun bombs makes sense, but fish treats and shark repellant? ^note  Though that last would could be seen as a Mythology Gag given Batman's past experiences with sharks...
• Not So Above It All:
  • Bruce is at first nonplussed at his kids fighting each other over a cookie. But when it lands onto his coffee cup, he's more than willing to leap into action to defend it. Much of the humour as the series goes on stems from him being just as immature as his children, just better at hiding it.
  • Clark Kent too, who is just as inept as Bruce at tying ties, and later is shown using his super-hearing to eavesdrop on Alfred and the Kents' dinner at Bruce's request like a pair of kids spying on their parents.
• And Now for Someone Completely Different: Episode 87, “A Close Shave”, focuses completely on the Kent Family. There’s even a Meaningful Rename as the series is renamed Superman: Kent Family Adventures for the episode.
• Odd Friendship: Damian is a Child Soldier with No Social Skills who is (and is the son of) a Badass Normal. Jon Kent is the son of Superman with all of his powers and an optimistic, enthusiastic personality. That said, the two are good friends and get along surprisingly well (to the point that Batman says that Damian gets along better with Jon than he does with other kids his age).
• Once Done, Never Forgotten:
  • The other Bat-kids will never let Dick Grayson forget about his "Discowing" costume and mullet. Unfortunately for them, he really doesn't see the problem.
  • Similarly, Jason will never let Tim forget the times he's gotten kidnapped and needed Jason to bail him out because he doesn't want to draw suspicion by breaking out himself.
• Paintball Episode: The Batkids play paintball in "Assassin", shooting each other at opportune times even when they're on mission.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: While spying on Duke's first date with a girl he really likes, Stephanie, Tim, and Damian (who seems to be there against his will) are very obviously staring at Duke and Ana. Stephanie is wearing a Matches Malone-style glasses and mustache, and Tim is wearing a fedora with an overcoat. Damian didn't bother with a disguise at all; he just sips his drink and doesn't bother to hide the fact that they're spying. Ana found the whole thing hilarious.
• Parents as People:
  • How Talia is presented here. She did contribute to Damian being initially raised as an assassin, but she realized down the line that she was robbing him of a childhood, so she let him leave to live with Bruce so that he could hopefully live a happier life.
  • Bruce as well, with him having issues with communicating with his kids, and his obsession with fighting crime means he can be unreliable for important events. But he also still clearly cares about his kids, telling Jason and Stephanie (who both frequently end up as The Unfavorite at times in main continuity) both that he loves them in separate You Are Better Than You Think You Are moments, and feeling a great amount of guilt when he misses Cass' ballet recital.
• Parental Substitute: Much like in canon, Batman is this for the Batkids (not with Damian, though, seeing as how he's Bruce's biological son). He isn't perfect, but he acts as either a father (or older brother ^note  In canon he's only about fifteen years older than Dick ) to all of the kids, with the comic even calling him Duke's mentor.
  • Barbara tends to act like this for the younger kids, given her Team Mom status.
  • Like in canon, Alfred was the closest thing to a parent Bruce had after the death of his parents. He acts as a surrogate grandfather for the kids...and is the only one capable of reigning in the chaos.
  • While he doesn't appear as often, Batwing (Luke Fox) acts as this trope, too, usually for Duke.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!:
  • Bruce assigns Stephanie to deal with Kite Man, and she refuses with an emphatic, "Hard. Pass."
  • Damian attempts to stab a socialite who cooed over him and pinched his cheek. Bruce yanks him back with a, "No knives," and reiterates, "No. Knives," when Damian protests.
• Queer Colors: During Tim and Bernard's date the two are wearing jackets in the colors of the Bi flag, and the sunset is also in bi flag colors. This color choice was confirmed as intentional by the artists.
• Reconstruction: This series is a reconstruction of not only the Batman comic book series but the Batman Family as well. The canon Batman family has a very dysfunctional relationship, and Batman could, depending on the writer, be borderline on being an abusive parent. Despite his care for his adopted children and sidekicks with the indication that they are stopping him from becoming a ruthless vigilante, Batman often has to relearn the lessons of being a better parent and remains a distant father figure despite his good intentions. In this series, Batman (Bruce Wayne) is a genuinely good, loving parent who, despite making mistakes because he balances his superhero and civilian identity, his positively influences his adopted children and sidekicks into being better superheroes and people. As a result, the Batman family is a functional and loving family of crime fighters who can have happy lives as civilians and superheroes. The Batman Family often faces problems because of either their superhero or personal lives; they always work to solve those problems and are successful superheroes and people because they are a loving family.
• Rewatch Bonus: In a first read of episode 48 Steph's excitement can be put down to wanting to find out the intentions of Cass' new boyfriend. On a re-read its clear she's enjoying setting the boys up for embarrassment.
• Scary Shiny Glasses:
  • Barbara has opaque glasses and a Slasher Smile in "The Tournament" when she reveals the punishment for losing the titular event.
  • She gets them again in "Online" when she discovers Jason's online dating profile.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Bruce can't figure out how to tie a tie without Alfred's help. Wonder Woman suggests that he simply show up to the black-tie event without a tie because he's the richest man in Gotham so they're hardly going to turn him away.
• Sdrawkcab Speech: Zatanna's incantations are mere English words spelled backwards, but the sentences themselves are not reversed.
• Seen It All: The intro boxes characterize Commissioner Gordon as having seen it all.
• Serious Business:
  • Alfred's cookies.
  • Bruce's PTA rivalry.
• Servile Snarker: Alfred is in tip-top shape here.
• Shout-Out:
  • "Alert" has Batman and Red Hood mimic the infamous "pointing Spider-Men" meme.
  • "The Tournament":
    • The premise features Cass, Steph, Tim and Jason playing what is essentially Mario Kart.
    • The shot of Damian and Duke undertaking Lessons in Sophistication is a reference to a similar scene in The Princess Diaries.
  • In "Crush (2/3)," Steph quotes the Keeping Up with the Kardashians "You're doing amazing sweetie" meme.
  • "Online":
    • A Youtube-esque video site has a video titled 'BATGIRL CRASHES MY PARTY?' with a young kid in a yellow shirt and a blue cap pointing at a blonde Batgirl with a bewildered look on his face. The color of his outfit and the way he wears his hat makes him a dead ringer for the 'Youngster' trainer class from Pokémon, specifically using the colors of the RSE rendition of the trainer class - also known as 'Youngster Joey' after the memetic trainer from GSC, whose HGSS look was updated to take after the RSE look.
    • Babs does a very good Gendo Ikari impersonation when she finds Jason's dating profile.
  • In "Field Test", one of the proposed carrying postures is called the "Dirty Dancing".
  • At the end of "Win or Lose (Part 2)," Jason starts walking towards his motorcycle. The framing of the panel is an almost exact duplicate of the famous drawing of Kaneda walking towards a motorcycle from AKIRA.
  • The title of "There Can Be Only One" refers to the tagline of the movie Highlander, in which Immortals must duel each other until only one remains. Dick and Jason's competition is a non-deadly version.
  • In "Haley", when Tim says the eponymous puppy is "too cute for your own good", Dick says thank you. Tim says, "I could not have been more clearly talking to the dog." This line is taken from a Brooklyn Nine-Nine episode, "Halloween IV".
• Sick Episode: In "Bad Day", almost every member of the Bat family is injured after a huge fight, and Alfred has a bad cold. Despite their injuries, the family members all pitch in to make Alfred a pot of chicken soup.
• Snowball Fight: The "Snowfall" two-parter is about the Batfamily having a snowball fight with Bruce in one corner against everyone else. It ends with Alfred providing covering fire and Bruce pulling out set of Powered Armor to defeat everyone.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: "Stealth Attack" has Batman assigning Orphan to do a Stealth Hi to nearly every member of the Batfamily to test if they can each see her coming. She catches almost every one of her targets off guard, including both Superman and Wonder Woman, with only Oracle passing due to her updating her security measures. Not even Batman himself can see her coming, failing his own test.
• Superman Stays Out of Gotham: Averted and Lampshaded in "Night In". Superman has no problem with patrolling Gotham while Bruce takes a night off, but this doesn't stop Harley Quinn from mocking the idea, claiming that the people of Gotham are "allergic to truth and justice".
  • It should be noted that she does this while wearing a cape and cowl reminiscent of Batman's.
• Tempting Fate: A triumphant Damian holds the last cookie over his head and gloats about how he's the superior Robin. Jason tackles him mid-sentence and grabs the cookie.
• There Was a Door: Discussed in "No Doors Allowed" as Jason and Cassandra get on Duke's case for using doors and not any of the other iconic entrances. Duke's rebuttal? If their enemies are expecting them through those entrances, why not use the door?
• Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Steph is as tomboyish as you'd expect a vigilante to be, but in a few issues she's shown wearing cute skirts and celebrates wins with sparkly happy-dances.
• Too Kinky to Torture: Dick Grayson spent a good part of his childhood in a circus, then spent the rest of it running around in a mask, shorts and pixie boots while making terrible puns. As a result, he is impossible to embarrass...to the point that he thought his old costume (aka the Discowing) looked cool ^note  It was a shiny silver one-piece with a huge Martian Manhunter-style collar and a V-neck that stopped halfway down the chest. . He also takes things like being turned into a bunny or being carried by a Flash visibly better than the rest of his family.
• Too Much Information: "TMI" features Batman flirting with Catwoman while not realizing that he'd left his comm open... with all of his proteges/children listening. Spoiler declares it to be the worst thing ever, Red Robin is left crying in a corner, Red Hood begs for someone to kill him again, and Damian innocently asked if he was going to arrest her.
• Welcome Episode: The first issue has Bruce welcome Duke Thomas to Wayne Manor.
• What Are Records?: In "Newsflash", Damian and Jon are confused when Clark mentions changing in phone booths to save the day, which has largely become a Discredited Trope thanks to the rise of cellphones.
  Jon: What's a phone booth?
  Damian: Whatever they are, I am certain they are not appropriate places to change clothes.
  Clark: [rubbing his face] I'm so old.
• Wretched Hive: Even with the lighter tone of the series, it's acknowledged that Gotham is a cesspool that houses a lot of criminals, where people are constantly in danger just making their daily commutes. There is basically hardly a day when none of the Batfamily need to be on patrol. Plus, the water is horribly polluted.
• You Monster!: Played for Laughs when said by Jason, after Barbara reveals the loser of the video game match in "The Tournament" has to wear Dick's old disco-themed Nightwing costume.

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